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D"nQn0fl3* 


EEPORT 


OF    THE 


SECRETARY  OF  WAR 


Confederate  States  of  America,      V 

War  Department,       > 

Richmond,  Va.,  April  28,  1864.      ) 

To  His  Excellency  Jefferson  Davis, 

President,  fyc.  : 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  to  you  the  following  report  of  the 
operations  of  this  department : 

In  the  brief  period  since  my  last  report,  the  inclemency  of  the 
season  has  enforced  comparative  inaction  on  the  armies  in  the  field. 
Operations  on  our  part  have  been  mainly  defensive,  but  have  been  va- 
ried by  some  brilliant  affairs  of  an  offensive  character,  executed  gen- 
erally by  cavalry  detachments.  The  enemy  have  essayed  several 
serious  invasions,  and  various  marauding  incursions.  The  results 
have  been  almost  invariably  honorable  to  our  arms. 

The  large  force  thrown  into  Mississippi,  with  the  purpose  of  march- 
ing to  the  attack  of  Mobile,  expended  itself  along  less  than  a  third  of  its 
contemplated  course,  in  discreditable  ravages  against  non-combatants, 
and  hasty  damages  of  the  railroads,  speedily  repaired.  A  decisive  re- 
pulse of  the  formidable  cavalry  column  designed  to  co-operate  with  them 
from  Tennessee,  by  not  half  its  force  of  recently  recruited  men,  un- 
der the  bold  leadership  of  General  Forrest,  followed  ;  and  then,  at  the 
first  intimation  of  the  assembling  of  a  force  adequate  to  encounter 
them,  the  main  army,  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  strongs 
beat  a  hasty  retreat.  Their  whole  plan  of  campaign  was  effectually 
broken  up,  and  besides  the  losses  sustained  in  men  and  material,  by 
straggling  and  capture,  their  troops  returned  exhausted  and  discour- 
aged to  their  strongholds,  whence  they  have  not  ventured  since  to 
emerge. 


More  signal  disaster  punished  their  invasion  to  subjugate  Florida. 
They  were  met  promptly  and  gallantly  by  Gone ral  Finnegan,  with  a 
smaller  number  of  hastily  collected  troops,  and  completely  defeated, 
with  heavy  lose  and  utter  rcut,  in  the  decisive  battle  of  Olustee 
Driven  back  to  the  protection  of  their  ships-of-war,  they  received 
large  reinforcements,  and  for  a  time  threatened  the  renewal  of  their 
invasion,  but  their  most  bloody,  experience  of  the  prowess  of  our 
forces,  a.nd  the  great  consequent  discouragement  of  their  troops, 
doubtless  induced  despair  of  success.  They  have  since  withdrawn 
nearly  their  entire  force,  and  relinquished  as  desperate  the  invasion 
of  a  State  so  courageously  defended. 

Various  raids  of  the  enemy  have  been  made  by  cavalry,  generally 
in  indefensible  portions  of  the  Confederacy,  and  for  the  most  part  for 
purposes  of  mere  rapine  and  destruction.  They  have  been  conducted 
with  a  precipitation  most  wasteful  to  their  men  and  animals,  and  in- 
dicative of  constant  apprehension,  but  have  been  marked  by  a  ma- 
lignant spirit  and  practices  of  infamy  and  barbarity,  tjiat  would  have, 
disgraced  brigands  or  savages.  Their  warfare  has  been  almost  exclu- 
sively on  peaceful  citizens,  and  their  avowed  object  has  been  the  de- 
struction of  private  property ;  the  taking  off  of  the  slaves,  even  by 
force  ;  the  waste  of  stores  and  means  of  subsistence  ;  the  destruc- 
tion of  animals  and  implements  of  husbandry,  and  the  privation  of 
all  means  of  future  production  and  support  to  the  whole  people. 

The  most  important  of  their  raids,  undertaken  with  an  unusual 
force  and  a  special  aim,  surpassed  even  their  many  inhuman  enter- 
prises in  the  atrocity  of  its  discovered  designs.  It  was  avowed  as  an 
effort,  with  five  thousand  picked  horsemen,  sustained  by  light  artil- 
lery, to  sieze  and  hold  temporarily  the  Capital  of  the  Confederacy, 
and  to  liberate  the  large  number  of  their  prisoners  held  in  its  vicin- 
ity. Our  pickets  had  been  thinned  by  the  withdrawal  of  our  cavalry 
for  recruitment  and  supply,  and  the  enemy  succeeded  in  starting, 
without  observation,  on  their  enterprise,  bu^t  it  was  conducted  with  a 
timidity  and  a  feebleness,  that  were  in  ludicrous  contrast  with  the 
boldness  of  the  conception  and  the  extent  of  their  means.  Fifteen 
hundred  of  their  number,  detached  to  Charlottesville,  for  the  double 
purpose  of  destroying  our  railroad  communications  and  distracting 
attention  by  varied  attacks,  with  the  view  of  subsequently  reuniting 
with  the  main  column,  were  easily  repulsed  by  a  mere  handful  of  half 
armed  artillerymen  with  a  single  gun,  when  in  a  few  miles  of  their 
-contemplated  prize  of  Charlottesville,  and  compelled  to  fly  affrighted 
buck  to  their  main  army.  Another  detachment  of  some  thousand 
men,  under  an  officer,  Colonel  Dahlgren,  deemed  by  them  one  of  es- 
pecial merit,  was  sent  across  the  country  to  pass  some  distance  above 
the  city  to  the  south  of  the  James,  and  coming  rapidly  on  that  side, 
where  there  was  least  reason  to  expect  a  defensive  force,  and  near 
'which,  on  an  island,  were  the  greater  portion  of  the  prisoners,  to  aid 
in  a  combined  attack  to  be  made  on  the  north  side  by  the  great  body 
of  the  trtfops  under  General  Kilpatrick,  esteemed  among  their  most 
enterprising  generals.  Dahlgren  marked  his  course  to  the  river,  un- 
impeded by  any  hostile  force,  only  by  ravage  and  incendiarism,  but 


i  '< 

failed  wholly  to  effect  a  crossing,  and  sought  to  cover  the  timidity 
that  shrank  from  trying  a   doubtful   ford,  by   an   act  of  savage  ven- 
geance on  his  negro  guide,  who  indeed  well   merited  his  fate,  but  not 
at  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  for  his  treachery  to  an  indulgent  master, 
and  his  attempted  services  to  a  cruel  foe.     Baffled  in  this  part  of  hrs 
plan,  he  hastened  towards  the  city  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  to 
unite  with  Kilpatrick  in  his  proposed  attack.     Meantime,  some  hours 
before  his  arrival,  that  attack  had  been  made  by  the  great  body  of  the 
forces  under  Kilpatrick,  and  repulsed  by  only  a  few  hundred  meiron 
one  of  the  outer  lines  of  the  city  defences,  with  such  ease  as,  but  for 
the  limited  number  engaged,  would  almost  have  deprived  the  victory 
of  glory.     Kilpatrick   retired  baffled,  to  find  another  opportunity,  if 
not, -to  beat  a  retreat.     Later,   near   night,  Dahlgren  approached 'on 
the  road  from  the  west,  down  the  river,  and  encountered,  a  few  miles 
from  the  city,  the  most  advanced  battalion  of  our  forces,  which  hap- 
pened to  be  of  the  local   reserves,  and   to   be  composed  of  clerks  re- 
cently organized  and  untried  in  war.     This  too  was  in  the  open 'field, 
without  defences  of  any  kind.     Yet  the  charge  of  this  select  body  of 
the  enemy's  cavalry,  in  superior   numbers,  was  speedily  repelled,  and 
they  driven  off  in   ignominious   flight;     Their  only  purpose   seemed 
escape,  but  as   they' hastily   pursued   after   the   retreating  column  of 
Kilpatrick,  they  learned   that  he  too   had  been  attacked  in  the  ni^ht* 
and  his  forces  dispersed.     This   gallant  deed  had 'been  done  by  Gen- 
eral  Hampton.     He,  approaching   with   about  four  hundred  cavalry, 
hastily  summoned    to   the   aid   of  the  city,  had  been  apprized  of  the 
locality  of  the  enemy  by  Col.  Bradley  Johnston,  who,  with  a  small  party 
of  horsemen,  had  been  for  many  hours  courageously  scouting  round  and 
skirmishing  with  their  forces.     Despite   his  insignificant  force  Gene- 
ral Hampton   at   once  charged   the   enemy   in  ais   camp,  and  after  a 
brief  struggle,  routed  them,  capturing  many  men  and  horses.     Being 
too  weak  to  pursue,  he  was  compelled  to  allow   them  to  escape  with 
impunity,  but  their  only   thought  afterwards    seemed  to  be  of  rapid 
flight,  and  the  next  day  they  'found  a  refuge  in  a  supporting  force  of 
cavalry,  that  had  been  sent  up  the  peninsula  to  their  relief.     Startled 
by  the   intelligence  of  this  disaster,  Dahlgren's  men  seem,  many,  to 
have  scattered,  finding  their  way  to  Kilpatrick's  column,  while  their 
leader,  with  some  hundreds  of  his  choice  men,  crossed  the  Pamunkey, 
with  the  hope  of  evading  Hampton,  and  escaping  across  the  country 
to  Gloucester  Point.     In  King  and  Queen,  they  were  encountered  by 
some  few   furloughed  cavalry   and   a  local  company,  hurriedly  sum- 
moned for  pursuit.      Ambuscacfed   by  them,  Colonel  Dahlgren  and 
a  few  of  his  men  were  killed,  and  the  residue  of  the  force  under  his 
command   speedily  surrendered  as  prisoners.     Thus  ingloriously  and 
disastrously  terminated  an  expedition,   inaugurated  with   formidable 
forces,  and  with  high  anticipations  of  great  results.     But  the  disgrace 
of  failure  was  exceeded  by  the  infamy  of  the  base  designs  of  the  ex- 
pedition.    On  the  body  of  Colonel  Dahlgreen,  the  chosen  and  spe- 
cially trusted  leader,  were  found  copies   of  the  plan  and  purposes  of 
the  expediton,  and  the  original  of  his  address  to  his  soldiers  on  start- 
ing,    These  disclosed,  unequivocally,  the  'nefarious  purpose,  after 


liberating  their  prisoners,  to  turn  them  loose,  armed  and  maddened  by 
privation  and  every  evil  passion,  and  by  them  with  the  aid,  and  under 
the  protection  of  the  embodied  forces,  to  sack,  burn,  and  destroy  the 
city,  and  to  kill  the  President  and  leading  authorities  of  the  Confed- 
erate Government.  The  dullest  sensibility  will  sicken  and  revolt  at 
the  horrible  brutalities  and  atrocities  that  must  have  attended  such  a 
carnival  of  crime.  The  perpetration  of  such  deeds  by  an  enfuriated 
soldiery,  under  all  the  fierce  impulses  of  a  sanguinary  struggle,  and 
in  the  flush  of  triumph,  is  by  all  nations  felt  to  be  a  reproach  on  the 
character  and  humanity  of  man  ;  but  that  such  horrors  should  have 
been  deliberately  planned  and  ordered  by  the  authorities  of  any  peo- 
ple professing  to  be  civilized  and  Christian,  musi  inflict  an  indelible 
stigma  of  hypocrisy  and  infamy.  Such  fell  designs  might  seem  al- 
most incredible  of  any  other  people,  but  they  are  supported  by  irre- 
fragable evidence  in  the  possession  of  the  papers  themselves,  with 
conclusive  indications,  internal  and  external,  of  their  authenticity.  It 
is  only  the  culmination  of  many  inferior  exhibitions  of  like  malignity 
and  atrpcity.  The  captives  taken  in  the  abortive  effort  to  perpetrate 
these  or  Like  atrocities,  must  be  admitted  to  have  forfeited  all  rights 
to  the  privileges  of  civilized  warfare,  and  might  well  be  punished  by 
their  intended  victims,  as  the  worst  of  criminals* ;  but'it  has  been 
thought  to  comport  more  with  the  dignity  and  self-command  of  an 
enlightened  Government,  as  well  as  to  be  more  consistent  with  the. 
humanity,  clemency  and  Christianity  that  has,  throughout  this  war, 
characterized  our  people  and  authorities,  not  to  mete  out  bloody  re- 
taliation on  the  subordinate  instruments  of  an  infamous  Government, 
but  to  consign  them  for  retribution  to*  the  reprobation  of  outraged 
Christendom  and  the  lasting  stigma  of  recording  history. 

Our  armies  in  the  field  are  believed  to  be  in  excellent  condition  and 
spirits.  Inured  to  war  and  practised  in  habits  of  endurance,  they 
have  passed  through  the  exposure  and  privations  of  the  winter  and 
incjement  spring  with  remarkable  health4  and  content.  Animated  by 
an  invincible  resolution  not  to  be  subdued,  and  a  zeal  of  patriotic  self- 
devotion  beyond  all  praise,  they  have  almost  universally  re-enlisted 
for  the  war,  and  voluntarily  renewed  the  pledge  of  their  all— their 
property,  their  labor  and  themselves — to  the  sacred  cause  of  the  safety 
and  independence  of  the  country.  They  have  reacted  on  the  people 
every  where,  encouraging  the  bold  and  shaming  the  timid  to  more  con- 
fident reliance  on  a  future  of  success,  and  have  effectually  hushed  the 
whisperings  of  despondency  or  disaffection.  They  were  never  more 
confident  and  reliant  on  themselves  and  their  commanders,  and  rela- 
tively, as  is  believed,  more  nearly  than  heretofore  approximating  the 
number  of  their  enemies,  they  await  wdth  assurance  and  ardor  the 
shock  of  the  coming  campaign. 

The  measures  of  legislation  to  secure  meritorious  officers  and 
repress  irregularities  and  desertion,  have  operated  beneficially  on  the 
discipline  and  morale  of  the  army.  Thorough  organization  may  not 
yet  have  been  effected  in  forces  which  had  to  be  suddenly  and  pro- 
visionally organized,  but  steady  advance  is  being  made  to  the  attain- 
ment of  the  utmost  discipline  and  efficiency.     The  recent  assignment 


at  the  capitol  of  a  supervising  commander  of  all  t\e  armies,  besides 
promoting  the  harmony  and  consistency  of  military  movements,  has 
brought  to  ajd  in  the  work  of  organization  the  experience,  known 
administrative  capacity  and  acknowleged  abilities  of  one  of  our  lead- 
ing generals,  and  may  be  expected  to  prove  productive  of  salutary 
results. 

Some  deficiencies  of  organization  yet  require  amendatory  legisla- 
tion. The  staff,  affording  to  the  quick  intelligence  of  the  general  his 
perceptive  and  administrative  faculties,  should  be  constituted  of  the 
best  material,  have  the  highest  attainable  experience  and  qualifications, 
and  be  animated  by  strong  incentives  to  activity  and  improvement. 
Unfortunately,  in  our  army,  it  has  not  enjoyed  the  repute,  nor,  per- 
haps, inconsequence,  commanded  the  merits  desirable  for  its  efficiency. 
From  unavoidable  circumstances,  probably,  the  staff  has  been  too  much 
the  object  of  favoritism,  through  the  recommendations  on  behalf  of 
personal  friends,  or  the  refuge  of  supernumeraries  and  those  by  non- 
election  or  otherwise  thrown  out  of  the  line  of  regular  service.  They 
have  come  to  be  considered  in  some  measure  as  attaches  to  the  persons 
and  fortunes  of  their  respective  generals,  rather  than  as  officers* 
selected  for  peculiar  qualifications  and  assigned  to  special  duties.  In 
consequence  of  this  kind  of  estimation,  probably,  they  have  not  been 
allowed  rank  consistent  with  their  importance,  or  regulated  appro- 
priately by  the  standard  of  merit.  These  evils  it  is  most  desirable  to 
remove,  and  it  is  respectfully  suggested  that  the  remedy  may  be  found 
in  organizing  the  respective  departments  of  the  staff  into  separate 
corps,  with  due  gradations  in  rank,  and  in  affording  the  incentive  of 
advance  on  the  exhibition. of  qualifications  or  superior  merit.  Some 
increase  in  the  numbers  to  be  attached  to  the  larger  commands  of  the 
army,  as  well  as  the  proposed  advance  in  rank,  would  also  seem  advis- 
able. This  is,  indeed,  almost  a  necessity  in  relation  to  the  commis- 
sary and  quartermaster  branches  of  the  staff  service.  The  law  has 
never  made  direct  provision  for  the  appointment  of  such  officers  to 
organizations  larger  than  brigades.  Experience  has  demonstrated 
them  Xo  be  essential,  not  only  to  the  army  as  a  whole,  to  assure  l^r- 
mony  and  unity  to  its  movements  and  due  distribution  of  supplies,  but 
likewise  from  similar  reasons  to  corps  and  divisions,  which  not  unfre- 
quently  have  to  act  independently  and  at  wide  intervals  of  distance. 
In  consequence,  there  has  been  no  alternative  but  for  the  general  in 
command,  or  the  department,  to  withdraw  and  assign,  by  detail,  from 
their  proper  brigades,  the  quartermasters  and  commissaries  indispen- 
sable to  the  larger  organizations  of  the  army.  Such  assignments  have 
rendered  oftentimes  imperative  the  appointment  of  other  officers  of  the 
same  branch  of  service  to  the  destitute  brigades  ;  and  thus  indirectly, 
and  with  only  the  rank  and  legal  assignment  of  brigade  officers,  have 
these  essential  officers  of  the  staff  been  secured  to  the  divisions,  corps 
and  armies  in  the  field.  Thi3  ha3  been  so  well  understood,  that  in  one 
of  the  acts  of  Congress,  there  has  been  implied  sanction  by  reference 
to  such  division  and  corps  officers.  Still,  action  in  such  cases,  without 
more  direct  authorization  of  law,  is  always  embarrassing  tPthe  de- 
partment, and  not  incapable  of  mischievous  effects  in  the  establish- 


merit  of  precedents,  and  it  is  earnestly  recommended  that  such  appoint- 
ments be  directly  sanctioned  by  law. 

In  another  particular,  respecting  the  appointment  of  quartermasters 
and  commissaries,  it  is  desirable  the  law  should  be  made  more  explicit 
The  only  authority  for  the  appointment  of  these  officers,  not  for  com- 
mands in  the  hold,  but  for  the  general  service  of  the  bureaus,  is  con- 
ferred by#the  act  of  the  loth  day  of  February,  1862,  which  provides: 

"That  in  addition  to  the  number  of  quartermasters,  assistant  quar- 
termasters, commissaries  and  assistant  commissaries,  now  allowed  by 
law,  the  President  shall  have  authority  to  appoint  as  many  of  said 
officers,  as  shall,  in  his  discretion,  be  deemed  necessary  at  permanent 
posts  and  depots." 

This  seems  to  contemplate  that  the  officers  of  this  class  for  the  gen- 
eral service  are  only  required  at  posts  and  depots,  and  are  expected 
to  be  stationary  there,  but  in  reality  there  is  an  imperative  necessity 
for  a  greater  number  to  be  distributed  and  actively  engaged  in  all 
parts  of  the  Confederacy,  purchasing,  accumulating,  and  moving  sup- 
plies, and  supervising  the  administration  of  the  extended  operations 
of  the  commissary  and  quartermaster's  service.  As  such  officers  are 
all  remotely  connected  with,  and  report  to,  the  respective  bureaus 
stationed  at  the  capital,  or  more  immediately  to  a  superior  officer  at 
some  post  or  depot,  the  above  act  was,  from  an  early  period  after  Us 
passage,  construed  to  authorize  the  appointment  of  as  many  quarter* 
masters  and  commissaries  .as  the  necessities  of  the  general  service 
demanded,  and  such  has  been  the  continued  practice  of  the  department. 
Doubt  may,  however,  exist  whether  this  be  not  a  latitude  of  construc- 
tion, dictated  rather  by  the  necessity  of  the  ease  than  justified  by  the 
language  and  original  conception  of  the  act.  The  law*should  explicitly 
confer  a  power  of  appointment  co-extensive  with  the  needs  of  the 
service,  for  the  exercise  of  a  questionable  right  of  appointment  is 
always  to  be  deprecated.  In  such  matters  encroachment  is  facile  and 
precedents  dangerous,  and  as  little  latitude  to  excess  as  practicable 
should  be  left  by  the  law  makers. 

On  another  point,  of  more  importance,  ambiguity  exists,  which 
should  be  corrected  by  more  explicit  legislation.  It  is  in  relation  to 
the  appointment  and  tenure  of  office  of.  the  general  officers  of  the 
provisional  army.  The  system  pervading  the  organization  of  the  pro- 
visional army  does  not  allow  the  appointment  of  officers  at  large 
assignable  to  any  command  appropriate  to  their  grade  of  rank,  but 
only  of  the  officers  of  each  special  organization,  on  the  legal  continu- 
ance of  which  their  commissions  are  dependent.  This  is  clear  as  to 
the  company  and  field  officers,  as  may  be  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
such  officer  of  a  company  or  regiment  is  not  a  captain  or  colonel  at 
large  of  the  provisional  army,  but  only  the  captain  or  colonel  of  his 
particular  company  or  regiment.  The  disband  me  nt  or  termination' of 
the  service  of  such  special  organization  loses  the  officers  their  commis- 
sions. The  same  principle  of  organization  seems  to  have  been  origi- 
nally contemplated  in  the  provision  by  the  act  of  the  Provisional  Con- 
gress o#the  6th  of  March,  186 1,  for  the  appointment  of  general 
officers  to  jbrigades  and  divisions,  and  hy  analogy,  as  is  presumable. 


likewise  to  the  commanders  of  corps  when  they  were  authorized.     It 
would  thus  have  resulted   that  appointments  of  general  officers  could 
only  be  made  to   special  brigades,   divisions  or  corps,  and  that  if  any 
general  officer  was  either  wounded,  incapacitated  temporarily,  or  oth- 
erwise withdrawn   from  his   special  command,   no  successor   could  be 
appointed  ;   and  that  on  any  brigade,   division  or  corps  being  broken 
up  or  radically  changed  by  the  diversion  or  re-distribu^ion  of  its  com- 
ponent, parts,   the   general  officer  would  go  out  of  commission.     The 
inconveniences  and  hardships  hence  resulting  were  so  great  and  mani- 
fest, that  although  in  the   first  instanpe  a  disposition  was  manifested 
by  the  Executive  to  maintain  this  scheme  of  appointment  and  tenure 
of  office,  almost  of  necessity  it  had  to  be  practically  overlooked  in  the 
many  changes   inevitable  in  the   composition  of  such  large  organiza- 
tions,  and  general -officers  came  to  be  assignable  from  one  brigade  to 
another,  or  to  secure  an  actual  commander  in  the  field  in  cas,e  of  tem- 
porary disability  of  the   general  officer  previously  commanding,  from 
capture,  wounds,   or  other  temporary  cause,  were  appointed  for  the 
destitute  organizations.     This  came  to  be  recognized  and  acted  on  aa 
a  necessity  by  Congress,  as  well  as  the  Executive,  and  to  obviate  the 
inconveniences  or  embarrassments  which  might  result  from  a  deficiency 
in  the  number  of  general  officers,   the  act  of  the   13th  of  October, 
1S62,  was  adopted.     This  act   provides  "  that  the   President  be,  and 
he  is  hereby  authorized,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,   to   appoint   twenty  general  officers  in  the   provisional  army, 
and  to  assign  them  to  such  appropriate  duties  as   he  may  deem  expe- 
dient."    tfnder  this  law  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Executive  may  ap- 
point, to  a  number  not  exceeding  twenty,   general  officers  of  the  pro- 
visional army  at  large,  who  may  be  assignable  to  any  command  or 
duty  appropriate  to  their  rank,  whose  commissions  are  not  contingent 
on  their   special   commands.     As  thus  a  number  of  supernumerary 
officers,  not  exceeding  twenty  in  number,  were  authorized,  it  was  con- 
sidered, by  construction,   to  obviate,  so   long  as  that  number  was  not 
exceeded,  any  obligation  of  discharging  such  general  officers  as  were, 
from  any  changes  of  the  service  or  otherwise,  thrown  out  of  their  spe- 
cial commando,   and  to  allow  even  those  originally   appointed  to  such 
special   commands,  by  being  considered  as  among  this  number  ot  su- 
pernumeraries, to  be  assigned  to  any  other  appropriate  duties  or  com- 
mands.    On  these  points,  however,  well-founded  doubts  exist,  since  the 
original  appointments  may  perhaps  more  justly  determine  whether  the 
general  officer  be  the  officer  of  a  special  command,  dependent  on   its 
continuance,  or  be  one  of  the  supernumerary  class  assignable  at  will. 
Such  construction,  however  sustainable  by  the  language  and  apparent 
contemplation   of  the   law,  would   be   both   unjust  and  mischievous. 
Very  many  of  the  most  capable  general'  officers  in  the  service,  often- 
times  because  of  their  superior   merits   selected   for  other  more  im- 
portant   station's,  under   the    changes  of  the    service  are  no   longer 
attached  to  the  special  commands  for  which  they  were  appointed,  and 
successors  have  replaced  them,  or  in  the  distribution  of  forces  their 
original  organizations  have  been  broken  up.     Shall  they  be    thrown 
out  of  commission  and  deprived  of  commands  ?     Nox  would  the  in- 


8 

justice  be  more  than  partially  remedied  by  placing  them  among  the 
supernumerary  class,  since  for  that  a  new.  appointment  would  be 
necessary,  which  would  deprive  them  of  their  original  date,  and  post- 
pone them  to  all  juniors  previously  in  commission.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  those  originally  appointed  as  supernumeraries  are  always  to 
be  considered  as  of  that  class,  and  not  on  assignment  to  a  particular 
command  to  hold  the  relation  of  a  commander  originally  appointed  for 
it,  the  number  allowed  by  the  law  would  be  at  once  exceeded,  without 
meeting  the  deficiencies  of  the  service.  An  invidious  distinction 
would  be  established  between  officers  of  the  same  grade  in  the  pro- 
visional army,  founded  solely  on  the  accident  of  appointment,  which 
could  not  fail  to  be  prolific  of  Jealousies,  rivalries  and  discontents. 

In  view  of  the  whole  subject,  it  is  recommended  thst  all  general  offi- 
cers of  the  provisional  army,  like  the  supernumeraries,  be  made  inde- 
pendent of  their  commands,  and  assignable,  according  to  rank,  to  any 
appropriate  command  or  duty. 

.  A  slight  extension  of  the  power  of  appointing  chaplains  for  the 
army  is  likewise  desirable.  There  i3,  happily,  a  large  religious 
element  and  much  devotional  feeling  in  our  army,  which  every  consid- 
eration of  policy,  no  less  than  grateful  duty,  requires  should  be  con- 
sulted and  fostered.  At  present,  chaplains  can  only  be  appointed  to 
posts  and  regiments.  Now,  the  men  of  one  of  the  most  important 
branches  of  service,  the  artillery,  are  not  regimentally  organized,  bus 
formed  either  in  detached  companies  or  arranged  in  battalions. 
Hence  to  them  cannot  be  afforded  the  guidance  or  consolations  of  re- 
ligious ministry.  It  is  suggested  that  a  chn plain  should  be  allowed 
for  every  ten  detached  companies,  or  to  two  battalions,  when  so  sit- 
uated as  to  permit  to  them  a  common  ministration. 

The  act  of  the  late  Congress  for  retiring  disabled. officers  and  men 
has  been  put  in  execution,  and  is  working  beneficially  for  the  army. 
Its  provisions,  however,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  commensurate  with 
the  claims  of  equity  and  gratitude  due  to  the  gallant  soldiers  who 
have  been  shattered  in  health,  or  maimed  by  the  exposures  and 
•wounds  of  service.  It  is  confined  in  its  operation  only  to  such  as 
are  still  on  the  rolls  of  the  army,  and  has  no  respect  to  those  who  may 
have  been,  by  resignation  or  otherwise,  heretofore  put  out  of  service. 
No  adequate  cause,  either  in  reason  or  justice,  can  be  perceived  for 
such  limitation.  Indeed,  on  the  score  of  merit,  the  cases  of  those 
"who  had  continued,  while  incapable  of  active  duty  in  the  field,  on  sick 
leave,  or  in  positions  of  legal  duty,  rather  cumbering  than  aiding  the 
service,  appear  less  entitled  to  consideration  than  those  more  disin- 
terested officers  who  sacrificed  their  commissions,  often  their  sole 
'dependence,  from  honorable  sensibility,  lest  they  should  block  the 
promotion  of  the  inferior  officers  on  whom  their  .duties  had  been  cast. 
Not  a  few  cases  of  this  kind  have  been  known  to  the  Department,  in 
which  the  acceptance  of  the  resignation,  while  constrained  by  the 
interests  of  the  service,  has  been  done  with  pain  and  regret  at  the  "ne- 
cessity of  allowing  the  self-sacrifice  which  a  sense  of  honor  imposed 
on  the  gallant  officer.  The  sole  consideration  which  can  exist  to  pre- 
vent  the  extension   to   all   such  resigned  officers  of  the   privileges 


9 


accorded  by  the  act  to.  those  still  in  service,  is  the  ungracious  one  of 
economy,  which,  in  a  liberal  view,  would  be  as  inapplicable  from  true 
policy  as  from  a  due  regard  to  the  sentiment  of  justice  and  gratitude 
.  involved.  As  very  many  of  those  disabled  or  scarred  veterans  are 
stiil  capable  of  much  service  at  posts  or.other  light  duties,  their  re- 
storation to  rank  would  probably  prove  much  more  a  gain  than  a  burden 
to  the  country,  while  it  would  manifest  grateful  appreciation  and 
secure  some  partial  provision  for  the  honored  sufferers  of  our  cam- 
paigns. .  It  is,  therefore,  earnestly  recommended  that  the  privileges 
of  the  act  be  extended  to  embrace  those  who,  from  like  causes  of  dis- 
ability or  wounds  in  service,  have  heretofore  '  resigned  or  been  dis- 
charged. 

The  corps  of  engineer  troops  authorized  by  the  late  Congress, 
after  not,  a  few  impediments  a.nd  delays  resulting  from  the  reluctance 
of  commanders  to  part  with,  by  details,  their  veterans  from  the  line, 
have  at  last  been  organized,  in  the  main  of  new  material,  and  kave 
been  provided  with  the  requisite  trains  and  implements  of  service. 
They  have  been  the  object  of  special  interest  and%  care  to  the  able 
head  of  the  Engineer  bureau,  and  to  his  intelligent  supervision  and 
persistent  efforts  are  mainly  due  their  efficient  organization  and  com- 
plete provision.  They  are  composed  for  the  most  part  of  picked  men, 
and  embody 'many  valuable  mechanics  and  skilled  laborers,  who, 
guided  by  the  intelligence  and  experience  of  officers  selected  from 
their  peculiar  qualifications  and  training  as  engineers,  cannot  fail  to 
prove   eminently  advantageous  in  facilitating    the    movements    and 

•  providing  the  defences  of  our  armies.  Their  merits  and  value  are 
already  warmly  appreciated  and  acknowledged  by  the  generals  who 
have  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  their  Services,  and  it  is  not  doubted 
they  will  so  advance,  with  increased  experience  and  practice,  in  esti- 

.*,  mation    and    utility,    as    to    fully    vindicate    the    wisdom    of    their 
organization. 

The  boards  of  examination,  the  military  courts  and  the  provisions 

•  of  the  late  law  allowing  officers  to   be   dropped   on   the  recommenda- 
tions   of    commanding   generals,    are     operating    favorably    on    the 
discipline  and  efficiency  of  the  army.     Grave   doubts   have,  however, 
been  expressed  by  one  of  our   most  distinguished   geiferals,  whether 
changes  by  a  law  of  the  late  session  in  relation  to  the  military  courts 
have  not  so  closely  'assimilated    them,  in    the    necessity  of  referring 
charges  and  having  them  reviewed  in  each  case   by   the   commanding 
general,  to  general  courts  martial,  as  to    have   diminished   their  effi- 
ciency   in    facilitating    the   dispatch    of    cases   and    promptitude    of 
punishment*    Modification  of  the  law  in   these  respects  is  therefore 
respectfully  suggested.     Indeed,  the    mass  of  business   cast    on    the 
reviewing  authorities— the  commanding  general,  the'  department  and 
the  President — by    these    various    modes  of  removing   incompetency 
and  punishing  offences,  cannot  be  dispatched  without  neglecting  other 
duties  of  higher  import.     The  responsibilities,  however,  entailed  are 
of  so  grave  and  delicate  a  character,  and  involve  so  much  of  personal 
discretion,  that  they  cannot    be  discar/lsd    or  consigned   to   others. 
Remedial  legislation  .in  these  particulars  is  urgently  demanded.  ,  It 


10 

is,  with  deference,  suggested  that  an  officer,  to  be  connected  with  the 
Adjutant  General's  bureau,  and  to  be  designated  the  Judge  Advocate 
General,  with  the  rank  at  least  of  colonel,  to  be  aided  by  assistants, 
one  to  be  with  thexoramanding  general  of  each  separate  army  in  tho 
field,  with  the  rank  at  least  of  lieutenant  colonel,  be  authorized, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  review  in  the  first  instance  all  sentences  of 
the  military  courts,  courts  martial  and  examining  boards, 'with  the 
right  of  appeal  within  a  limited  time,  where  the  cases  were  tried  in 
the  field  and  the  sentence  deprived  the  accused  of  either  commission 
or  life.  This  appeal  might  be  first  to  the  general  comraandirg,  who 
might  either  decide  it  finally  or  suspend  execution  and  refer  it, 
through  the  Judge  Advocate  General,  to  the  department,  to  be 
decided  by  it,  or,  at  its  discretion,  submitted  to  the  President.  In  all 
cases  not  arising  and  tried  with  an  .army  in  the  field,  the  review 
might  be,  in  the  first  instance,  by  the  .Judge  Advocate  General,  sub- 
ject to  the  right  of  like  appeal,  when  life  or  commission  was  the  for- 
feiture of  the  sentence,  to  the  department,  which  should  either  decide 
or  submit  to  the  President.  Of  course,  the  privilege  of  interposing 
by  executive  clemency,  vested  in  the  President,  would  remain  unaf- 
fected, and  application,  in  appropriate  form,  might  be  m*.de  .  in 
all  cases.  By  the  plan  proposed,  or  some  similar  ope,  all  veiiial 
eases  and  a  large  proportion  of  grave  ones  would  be  disposed  of,  with- 
out burthcning  the  commanding  general  or  the  department.  .  So 
only  those  of  special  gravity  would  come  to  the  department,  or  claim 
the  action  of  the  President,  while  the  gracious  prerogative  of  mercy 
would  in  all  be  reserved  to  him.  Promptitude  and  certainty  in  the* 
disposition  of  all  cases  would  be  reconciled  with  due  consideration 
and  full  revision. 

More  important  advantage  to  the  service,  it  is  believed,  would  result 
from  the  extension  of  the  power  now  extrusted  to  the  Executive,  of  > 
assigning  to  commands,  with  temporary  rank,  officers  of  the  Confed- 
erate army,  to  officers  likewise  of  the  provisional  army.  The  power 
has  been  both  useful  and  convenient  with  respect  to  the  former,  and 
the  considerations  that  recommend  it  apply  with  daily. increasing  force 
to  officers  of  the  provisional  army.  In  the  service,  the  power  of 
promptly  rewarding  and  advancing  decided  merit  presents  an  invalua- 
ble incentive  to  improvement  and  the  display  of  high  qualities.  The 
right,  too,  of*  selecting  from  all  ranks  or  branches  of  the  service, 
without  being  restricted  by  the  gradations,  of  permanent  rank,  the 
officers  who  may  have  shown  qualities  eminently  adapting  them  for 
special  commands,  must  conduce  greatly  to  the  development  and  com- 
mand of  the  highest  qualifications  of  leadership.  Surjtrise  has  not 
^infrequently  been  felt  and  expressed  that,  though  happily  blessed 
with  not  a  few  generals  distinguished  alike  by  skill  and  success,  yet 
with  our  armies,  composed  in  large  degree  of  such  intelligent  and  cul- 
tivated men,  and  characterized  by  such  high  courage  and  proclivities 
for  war,  more  of  conspicuous  ability  and  military  genius  have  not 
been  elicited  and  displayed.  That  these  rare  and  inestimable  gifts 
exist  latent  within  our  arrme*  cannot  be  doubted,  but  our  system, 
especially  in  the  provisional  army,  has  not  been   calculated  to  foster 


11 

or  discover  them.  Officers  are  in  that  army  made  strictly  dependent 
on  and  confined  to  limited  organizations  in  special  branches  of  the 
service,  and,  whatever  their  peculiar  qualifications,  cannot  be  perma- 
nently assigned  nor  be  advanced,  save  by  the  accident  of  promotion 
by  seniority,  or  even  on  the  display  of  distinguished  valor  and  skill, 
except  in  their  limited  organizations.  As  the  officers  of  the  provis- 
ional army  improve  in  experience  and  military  attainments,  it  becomes 
more  and  more  important  that  they  should  not  be  confined  .to  special 
branches  of  service,  but  have  varied  or  enlarged  spheres  of  action,  so 
as  to  be  prepared  for  more  general  commands,  and  that  their  special 
capacities  should  be  utilized  to  the  greatest  advantage.  Besides  the 
benefits  attained  by  temporary  assignments,  grave  inconveniences 
would  likewise  be  avoided.  All  advancements^  when  made,  especially 
with  officers  not  trained  by  military  education  or  experience  antece- 
dent to  the  war,  must  necessarily  be  in  large  measure  experimental 
and  of  doubtful  results,  and  yet  they  are  permanent,  however  unsuited 
or  inefficient.  Unless  positively  incompetent,  the  officers  must  remain 
in  their  new  commands,  scarce  equal  to  their  duties  and  incapable  of 
inspiring  confidence  or  enthusiasm,  and  yet  often  by  their  rank  over- 
shadowing or  blocking  the  way  to  their  superiors  in  all  the  endow* 
ments  for  command.  It  would  have  been  far  better  to  have  tested,  by 
temporary  assignment,  the  qualities  of  the  officer  for  the  increased 
rank  and  command,  before  he  was  irretreviably  fixed  in  it.  It  is  often 
found  that  an  admirable  captain  proves  unequal  to  the  command  of  a 
regiment,  or  an  accomplished  colonel  fails  in  the  wider  command  of  a 
brigadier,  and  not  unfrequently  in  even  higher  rank  will  the  distin- 
guished subordinate  general  prove  inadeqate  to  wider  or  independent 
command.  The  officer,  especially  in  an  army  so  improvised  and  hastily 
organized,  should  be  tested  and  approved  in  each  important  advance, 
by  command  w;th  temporary  assignment,  before  being  permanently 
established  in  his  increased  grade.  In  short,  the  practice  of  such 
assignments  would  afford  the  highest  incentives;  would  give  enlarged 
experience  and  opportunities  of  display  ;  would  foster  and  elicit  special 
merits  and  military  genius,  and  would  assure,  in  permanent  com- 
mands, approved  capacities. 

Serious  inconvenience  has  been  caused  officers .  in  the  field,  and 
much  suffering  in  some  instances  to  officers  at  posts,  by  the  late  law 
giving,  but  restricting  the  former  to  one  ration,  and  allowing  the  lit- 
ter the  privilege  of  purchasing  only  one  It  is  respectfully  recom- 
mended that  the  law  be  so  amended  as  to  give  officers  in  the  field  one 
ration,  and  to  allow  to  all  the  privilege  of  purchase,  subject  to  such  reg- 
ulations as  may  be  imposed  by  the  department.  This  cannot  possibly 
result  in  any  injury  to  the  public  service,  while  the  object  of  the  late 
law  will  be  attained,  which  was  obviously  to  confer  a  benefit  and  not 
work  a  hardship. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  appropriate  to  advert  to  the  peculiar  and 
rather  a'nomalous'pnovision  of  the  existing  law  regulating  the  pay  and 
allowances  of  general  officers.  No  difference  in  these  respects  is 
made  among  them,  with  the  sole  exception  (under  the  present  excep- 
tional raters  of  prices)  of  trivial  effect,  that  to  the  general  actually 


12 

commanding  an  army  in  the  field  there  is  the  added  allowance  of  a  hun- 
dred dollars  a  month.  No  distinction  otherwise  in  pay  or  allowances 
is  made  from  a  brigadier  up  to  a  general.  As  with  increase  of  rank 
and  command,  additional  expenditures  and  charges  are  imposed,  the 
simple  consideration  of  justice  would  demand  correspondingly  increased 
pay  and  allowances.  Equality  in  such  cases  is  inequity,  but,  in  addi- 
tion, it  is  contrary  to  all  experience  and  practice  to  have  no  consid- 
eration in.  compensation  to  increased  dignity  and  more  important  ser- 
yice.  A  singular  illustration  of  the  present  inequity  of  the  law  is 
presented  by  the  fact  that  the  veteran  general  recently  assigned  to  the 
duty  of  directing,  under  the  President,  all  our  armies,  and  required 
to  incur  all  the  expenses  of  a  residence  at  the  capital,  is  deprived  of 
the  additional  allowance  he  would  have  had  as  a  general  commanding 
an  army  m  the  field,  and  receives  no  more  than  the  latest  brigadier.  It  is 
surely  only  right  that  pay  and  allowances  should  have  an  appropriate  re- 
lation to  rank  and  extent  of  duties,  entailing,  as  they  must,  larger  expen- 
ditures, find  it  is  confidently  hoped  that  our  general  officers  of  the  more 
advanced  grades  will  not  longer  be  enforced  to  the  embarrassments, 
privations  and  destitution  of  attendants,  by  which,  under  the  present 
compensation  allowed  and  the  restrictions, on  the  subject  of  rations, 
in  the  midst  of  their  anxieties  and  high  responsibilities,  they  are  now 
annoyed. 

Attention  is  likewise  called  to  the  necessity  for  some  adeq  ate  pro- 
vision to  defray  the  expenses  of  officers  travelling  under  orders.  The 
present  allowances  aro  insufficient  to  bear  the  charges,  which  no  econo- 
my, or  even  parsimony,  can  avoid,  and  the  inadequate  pa^  of  Ae  officer 
little  enables  him  to  discharge  such  expenses.  The  simplest  justice 
requires  that,  at  least,  the  necessary  expenses  incurred  in  obedience 
to  orders  should  be  defrayed  by  the  Government. 

Some  provision  should  likewise  be  made  to  compensate  the  commis- 
sioners directed  to  be  appointed  by  the  act  suspending,  in  certain 
cases,  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  The  duties  are  of  a  delicate  and  re- 
sponsible character  and-  the  compensation  should  ,be  liberal  enough  to 
engage  the  services  of  men  of  high  character  and  intelligence. 
•  The  recent  military  bills,  increasing  the  range  of  conscription, 
have  engaged  the  constant  attention  and  energetic  efforts  of  the  able 
head  of  the  Conscript  Bureau  in  their  enforcement.  His  accompany- 
ing report,  to  which  attention  is  invited,  will  exhibit  results  so* 
far  attained  in  recruiting  the  armies,  and,  at  the  same  time,  explain 
the  embarrassments  and  impediments  which  have  hindered  more  rapid 
execution.  These  have  resulted  very  much  from  the  necessity  of 
examining  the  numerous  claims  presented  for  exemptions  or  details 
under  the  exceptions  and  avowed  policy  cf  the  law,  and  from  the  diffi- 
culty of  commanding  tke  class  and  number  of  assistants  and  officars 
for  the  multifarious  duties  cast  on  the  bureau.  Owing  to  the  de- 
cadence of  the  volunteering  spirit,  a  large  proportion  of  those  liable 
to  enrollment  prefer  claims  of  exemption  or  detail,  which  justice,  and 
regard  for  the  aims  avowed  in  the  law,  require  to  be  investigated  and 
decided.  At  the  same  time  the  omission  of  Congress  to  authorize 
the  appointment  of  officers  for  enrolling  service,  and  the  expectation 


13 

that  officers  to  bo  retired  under  the  invalid  bill  would  suffice  by  assign- 
ment for  such  duties,  have  placed  the  conscription  service  under 
something  fike  a  temporary  privation.  The  period  of  such  transitioa 
from  old  to  new  agencies,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
would  have  been  embarrassing  and  retarding,  but  the  delays  have 
been  increased  by  the  necessity  of  awaiting  the  process  of  retiring 
officers  under  a  cotemporaneous  law,  which  must  inevitably  be  of 
slow  and  gradual  execution.  Even  when  such-  officers  have  been 
retired  and  c?,n  be  commanded,  they  are  new  to  their  duties,  and  the 
retention  of  their  full  rank  often  makes  it  difficult  to  adjust  them  in 
appropriate  relations  with  the  few  more  experienced  officers,  whom 
the  laws  had  authorized  to  be  appointed  for  the  duties  of  conscription. 
This  will  rendily  be  appreciated,  when  it  is  recollected  that  the  highest 
rank  authorized  for  such  service  is  that  of  major  of  a  camp  of  instruc- 
tion. It  is  earnestly  recommended  that  power  of  appointing,  with 
rank  varying  from  a  lieutenant  to  a  colonel,  tor  enrolling  and  for 
supervising  conscription  in  each  State,  a  limited  number  of  competent 
officers,  whether  from  the  retired  list  or  those  having  special  training 
or  qualifications  for  the  duties,  be  conferred.  The  duties  cast  on  the 
Conscript  Bureau  are  multifarious  and  arduous,  as  well  as  of  prime 
moment,  and  it  surely  is  not  unreasonable  to  ask  the  privilege  of 
selecting  and  employing  fitting  instrumentalities  for  their  accomplish- 
ment. 

Another  cause  of  some  retardation  in  the  •execution  of  the  laws  of 
Conscription  results,  necessarily,  from  the  persistent  policy  of  the 
Department,  to  rely  for  its  regular  administration  on  the  prestige  of 
law  and  the  support  of  intelligent  public  opinion  to  established 
authority,  rather  than  on  military  coercion  by  sustaining  forces.  Thus, 
instead  of  the  forced  gathering  up,  as  with  a  drag-net,  of  all  that 
come  within  prescribed  ages,  there  is  the  accorded  privilege  of  volun- 
teering;  thereafter  enrollment,  with  due  respect  to  the  limitation  of 
the  law  and  the  claims  for  exemption  and  detail,  and  then  appropriate 
assignment.  As  the  regular  administration  of  law  is  more  tedious  than 
the  summary  judgments  of  arbitrary  authority,  so  this  system  sacrifices 
something  of  expedition  to  justice.  But  much  greater  advantages  are, 
it  is  believed,  secured  by  the  equity  and  certainty  of  execution,  and 
by  the  reconcilement  of  the  people  to  its  severe  requirements.  Of 
course  in  sqme  limited  districts,  where  disaffection  or  desertion  may 
have  assembled  open  recusants  to  the  law,  the  regular  agencies  em- 
ployed have  to  be  sustained  by  the  local  or  regular  forces.  While  so 
large  a  number  of  conscripts  may  not,  under  this  system,  be  at  once 
thrown  into  the  army,  yet  the  continuous  return  of  deserters  and  strag- 
glers and  the  steady  recruitment  of  our  armies  may  be  counted  on  to 
maintain  and  enhance  their  numbers  and  efficiency. 

In  natural  connection  with  the  maintenance"  of  our  armies,  the 
thought  is  attracted  to  the  condition  of  numbers  of  our  gallant  sol- 
diers,  now  languishing  in  the  prisons  of  the  enemy.  The  sympathies, 
of  a  grateful  country  are  fixed  upon  them  with  tne  deepest  interest, 
and  the  department  has  but  shared  and  responded  to  those  feelings  ia 
making. all  the  efforts,  consistent  with  dignity   and  honor,  for  their 


14  •  .  . 

relief  and  release.  The  protraction  of  their  confinement;  has  been 
due  solely  to  the  inhuman  policy  and  perfidy  of  our  enemies,  whose' 
Government  has  omitted  and  refused  to  maintain  the  faith'pledged  in 
the  cartel  of  exchange.  With  the  terms  of  that  agreement  our  Gov- 
ernment has  been  ever  ready  and  earnest  to  comply,  and  in  a  variety 
of  modes,  even  by  an  extraordinary  mission  of  the  second  officer  of 
the  Government^  has  sought  to  re-establish  its  operation  or  to  arrange 
satisfactory  measures  of  exchange.  Its  remonstrances  and  its  over- 
tures have  alike  proved  futile,  and  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  must  stand  responsible  before  the  world,  and  in  the  sight  of  a 
just  God,  for  all  the  privations,  sufferings  and  loss  of  life,  by  disease 
or  otherwise,  entailed  by  confinement  on  the  prisoners  held  on  either 
side,  not  less  on  .their  own  than  on  ours.  The  latest,  among  the 
shifts  and  subterfuges  adopted  by  them  to  evade  compliance  with  their 
plighted  engagements,  has  been  the  selection,  with  the  ostensible  pur- 
pose of  renewing  exchanges,  for  the  mission  of  treating  on  the 
subject  with  our  authorities,  of  General  Butler,  the  infamous  author 
of  so  many  atrocities  in  a  former  command,  as  to  have  received  the 
execracion  of  the  world,  and  to  have  been  banned  by  the  proclamation 
of  the  President  with  the  name  and  character  of  an  outlaw  and  a 
felon,  to-whom  were  to  be  extended  none  of  the  privileges  of  civil- 
ized warfare,  but  whose  crimes,  if  he  came  into  our  power,  were  to 
be  visited  with  the  condign  punishment  of  an  infamous  death.  It 
may  well  excite  surprise  fcnd  indignation  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  should  select,  for  any  position  of  dignity  or  command/ 
a  man  so  notoriously  stigmatized  by  the  common  sentiment  of  en- 
lightened nations,  but  it  is  not  for  us  to  deny  their  right  to  appreciate 
and  select  whom  they  may,  not  inappropriately  perhaps,  deem  a  fitting 
type  and  representative  of  their  power  and  characteristics.  While 
we  maintain  belligerent  relations  with  them,  we  must,  of  course,  re- 
cognize the  official  character  of  whatever  officers  they  may  empower 
to  act  within  their  own  limits  and  within  the  sphere  of  their  separate 
action.  We  must  therefore  recognize  the  fact  of  official  position 
being  held  by  such  a  character,  and  this  was  done  cotemporaneously 
and  subsequently  to  the  issue  of  the  President's  proclamation,  by 
our  generals  in  the  field,  when  compelled  to  necessary  official  relations 
with  the  Federal  commander  at  New  Orleans  ;  but  when  option  can 
be  exercised  by  ourselves,  and  within  the  limits  of  our  own  territory 
or  within  the  control  of  our  armies,  it  is  neither  to  be  expected,  nor 
would  it  comport  with  the  honor  or  dignity  of  the  Confederacy,  that 
an  outlaw  and  a  felon  should  be  received  and  admitted  to  the  courte- 
sies or  privileges  of  civilized  warfare,  or  exempted  from  the  liabilities 
of  a  criminal.  It  has  held  him  up  to  the  detestation  of  Christendom 
and  obtained  the  answering  award  of  moral  condemnation  from  the 
tribunal  of  enlightened  public  sentiment  everywhere.  Within  its 
limits,  and  wherever  its  power  may  enable  it  to  execute  justice,  he 
has  been  and  will  be  held  an  outlaw  and  a  felon.  To  essay  more 
would  be  a  mere  "brutum  fulmen  "  against  the  criminal,  yet  entail 
inconveniences  to  our  own  Government  and  injury  to  innocent  vic-% 
tims  of  his  malevolence.   -In  this  view,  the  Government  has*  sought 


15 

to  regulate  its  action.  It  has  not  denied  the  power  or  position,  how- 
ever un*K>rthily'  bestowed  by  his  own  Government  on  General  Butler 
within  their  limits,  but  has  refused  to  receive  or  admit  him  within 
ours.  If  an  honest  purpose  of  effecting  exchanges,  in  compliance 
wit^the  cartel,  or  on  equitable  terms,  be  really  entertained  by  the 
enemy,  all  the  arrangements  essential  thereto  may  be  readily  attained 
consistently  with  the  position  th-us  justly  held  by  our  Government, 
while,  if  the  selection  was  intended  merely  as  a*  pretext  of  avoidance, 
or  for  the  purpose  of  gratuitous  offence,  the  hypocrisy  of  the  one 
design,  or  the  malignity  .of  the  other,  will  be  exposed.  Since  this 
relation  has  been  held,  some  limited  exchanges  by  indirect  communi- 
cation have  been  effected,  and  hopes  are  entertained,  especially  in 
view  of  the  increased  number  of  prisoners  which  recent  successes 
have  given  us,  that  the  inhuman  policy  and  delusive  pretences  ot  the 
enemy  will  be  abandoned  and  the  equitable  stipulations  of  the  cartel 
be  again  acknowledged  and  executed.  Such  consummation  would 
thrill  with  emotions  of  gratification  the  whole  population  of  the  Con- 
federacy, and  bear  relief  and  consolation  to  thousands  of  families 
throughout  the  land.  For  a  fuller  history  and  explanation  of  all  the 
proceedings  connected  with  the  subject  of  exchange,  reference  is 
made  and  special  attention  invited  to  the  accompanying  report  of  Mr. 
Ould,  our  able  Commissioner  of  Exchange. 

Since  my  late  report,  the  administrative  operations  of  the  respective 
bureaus  have  been  conducted  with  ability  and  energy  by  the  zealous 
officers  in  charge.  They  have  had  many  difficulties  to  encounter 
from  the  fluctuating  currency  ;  from  deficiency  of  supplies  ;  from  the 
withdrawal  of  workmen,  and  imperfect  means  of  transportation;  yet 
despite  of  these  ajid  other  impediments,  they  have,  in  all  instances,  it  is 
believed,  not  only  maintained,  but  have  rather  increased,  the  efficiency 
and  success  of  their  varied  working  departments.  One  of  their 
greatest  embarrassments  has  resulted  from  the  law  of  the  late  Con- 
gress, prohibiting,  under  severe  penalties,  the  employment  or  contin- 
uance in  employment  of  any  liable  to  military  duty.  As  the  opera- 
lions  of  several  of  the  most  important  bureaus  required  assistants 
as  well  as  officers  of  great  activity  and  energy,  rarely  to  be  found 
except  in  the  prime  of  life,  a  large  number  of  the  most  trusted  and 
essential  employees  came  within  the  prohibited  classes.  To  dismiss 
them  at  once,  without  breaking  up,  at  the  mo3t  critical  and  important 
period,  the  operations  of  the  essential  bureaus  of  subsistence,  supply, 
and  transportation,  was  plainly  impossible.  It  became  necessary' 
therefore,  that  the  power  of  detail,  which  had  been  reposed,  it  is  to 
be  presumed,  to  guard  against  such,  among  other  contingencies,  should 
be  exercised  by  the  department  more  liberally  than  would  have  been 
otherwise  consistent  with  its  views.  Every  exertion  has,  however, 
been  made  to  restrict  the  details  to  the  narrowest  limits  consistent 
with  the  continuance  of  efficient  service  in  the  bureaus,  and  they  havs 
not  been  made  without  strict  scrutiny  and  assuran^,  as  far  as  practi- 
cable, of  their  positive  necessity.  Instructions,  t#,  have  been  given 
and  efforts  are  being  made  to  diminish  gradually  these  details  and  to 
supply  their  places,  as  fast  as  substitutes  can  be  found  from  the  disa- 


16 

i 

bled -or  innrni,  or  from  the  reserve  classes.  The  steadfast  aim  of  the 
department  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  to  pUce  in  our  armies 
in  active  service  every  able-bodied  man,  liable  to  bear  arms,  between 
the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five.  If  such  result  be  attained,  it 
cannot  be  doubted  armies  will  be  maintained  as  large  as  the  resources 
of  the  country  would,  in  consistency  with  the  permanent  welfare  of 
the  people,  justify,  and  fully  adequate  to  achieve  and  assure  indepen- 
dence and  peace. 

Another  embarrassment  in  tho  administrative  departments  has 
resulted  from  the  limitation  by  law  to  the  compensation  allowed 
to  detailed  men  from  the  armies,  who  are  generally  skilled  workmen 
or  experts,  and  withdrawn  on  that  account.  Only  three  dollars  a /lay 
is  by  the  law  allowed  them,  and  at  existing  inordinate  rates,  it  is  in 
the  places  where  their  duties  compel  their  presence,  simply  impossi- 
ble for  them  to  support  life,  much  less  secure  reasonable  comforts  or 
aid  their  families.  What  adds  to  the  grievance  is,  that  to  the  for- 
eigners and  others  working  by  their  sides,  three  or  four  times  as/ 
much  compensation  has  to  be  given  to  retain  them  in  their  employ- 
ments. Some  additional  provision  for  such  detailed  men  must  be  made, 
and  it  is  sugested  that  at  least  support,  quarters  and  clothing  be 
secured  to  them.  It  is  impracticable  to  provide  them  by  any  fixed 
rate  of  pay,  for  in  our  exceptional  circumstances  the  necessary 
amount  would  vary  largely  in  different  localities  and  in  brief  inter- 
vals of  time.  In  this  connection,  too,  it  is  not  inappropriate  again  to 
invoke  earnestly  consideration  to  the  wholly  inadequate  compensation 
afforded  to  the  clerks  and  employees  of  the  department.  The  finan- 
cial measures  of  the  late  Congress,  it  is  hoped,  will,  in  their  full 
development,  compel  reduction  of  inflated  prices,  but  as  yet  they 
have  been  inoperative  to  afford  any  relief.  Without  means  other 
than  their  salaries  it  is  impossible  for  the  clerks  to  obtain  bare  sub- 
sistence. They  are  fai  hful  and  laboriuos  officers,  and  every  conside- 
ration of  justice  and  policy  demands  that  they  should  receive  at 
least  a  fair  support.  With  the  fluctuations  of  prices,  this  cannot 
easily  be  secured  by  a  moderate  compensation  in  currency  Provi-  ■ 
sion  should  be  made  to  supply  them  with  ratio'ns  and  clothing,  or  a 
part  of  the  funds  appropriated  for  their  pay  being  employed  in  tho 
purchase  and  export  of  cotton,  they  should  receive  a  limited  propor- 
tion, say  a  third  or  fourth,  of  their  salaries  in  sterling  exchange. 

The  supply  departments  are  experiencing  increased  difficulties  from 
the  scarcity  existing  in  considerable  portions  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
from  the  reluctance  in  all  to  sell,  under  the  expectation  of  advancing 
prices.  The  great  resource  is,  and  it  is  feared  will  have  for  somo 
time  at  least  to  be,  impressment.  While  it  is  certainly  most  desira- 
ble this  mode  of  supply  should  be  dispensed  with,  or  at  least  made  as 
equitable  and  regular  as  practicable,  yet  facility  and  rapidity  of  exe- 
cution are  indispensable.  Some  features  of  the  late  law^  regulating 
impressments,  it  is.jmggested,  with  deference,  retard  and  obstruct  its 
operation,  and  miglt  be  modified  to  the  great  convenience  of  the 
Government  and  without  serious  prejudice  to  the  citizen.  The  re- 
quirements, too,  of  local  appraisements,  without  appeal  to  a  general 


17 

arbiter,  seems  a  very  defective  mode  of  securing  only  just  compensa- 
tion, and  is  rather  calculated  to  stimulate  grasping  desires  and  to 
foment  the  discontents  which  always  spring  from  inequality  and 
diversity  of  prices.  Such  appraisements,  "it  is  submitted,  do  not 
afford  a  fair  criterion  of  just  compensation  under  the«exceptional  cir- 
cumstances of  the  Confederacy.  .  A.  much  juster  rule  would  be  the 
cos"t  of  production  with  a  fair  profit  thereon,  to  be  determined  by 
selected  officers  of  undoubted  probity  and  intelligence  Recurrence 
to  such  system  of  general  regulation,  rather  than  to  the  fluctuating 
estimates  of  local  appraisers,  is  earner  -m  mended.      Some  posi- 

tive provisions  and  some  regular  process  of  enforcement  against  citi- 
zens* resisting  or  evading  impressments,  are  also  desirable, as  the  law 
is  now  almost  without  the  sanction  of  a  pen-  a   mode  of  legal 

execution.  Military  coercion  is  ever  to  be  deprecated  as  a  depend- 
ence for  the  admin at ration  of  law. 

The  expediency  of  the  tithe  tax  .has  been  tuiiv  vindicated,  as  it  has 
proved  a  most  valuable  resource  for  the  subsistence  of  the  armies  and 
the  most  acceptable  form  of  imposition  on  the  producers.  It  should 
certainly  be  continued,  and.  in  my  judgment,  on  some  leading  articles 
o£  subsistence,  such  aa  meat,  wheat,  rice,  and  products  of  the  su- 
gar cane,  should  be  increased.  Some  dek  e  arisen  in  its  col- 
lection from  the  lack  of  adequate  transportation,  and  'from  the  want 
of  harmony  between  the  assessors  and  collectors.  As  the  supervis- 
ion of  both  classes  of  officers,  is  now  reposed  in  the  same  department, 
more  unity  of  action  may  hereafter  be  expected.  In  the  amendments' 
made  to  the  law,  however,  at  the  last  session,  too  limited  a  time  has, 
according  to  the  judgment  and  experience  of  the  officers  charged  with  its* 
execution,  been  alio  we'd  for  collection  before  the  privilege  of  commuta- 
tion. That  period  is  limited  to  five  months  only,  within  which  all  collec- 
tions must  be  completed.  With  the  means  of  transport  and  storage 
possessed,  this  is  physically  impracticable  throughout  the  whole  Con- 
federacy. An  extension  of  the  period  to  at  least  eight  months  is 
therefore  recommended.' 

Under  the  legislation  of  the  late  Congress,  efficient  regulations 
have  been  adopted  to  make  our  great  staples  more  available  for  pro- 
viding funds  and  sustaining  our  credit  abroad,  by  exportation.  Ade- 
quate precautions  have,  likewise,  been  taken  to  assure,  on  the  export 
of  these  leading  articles  of  commerce,  when  taken  out  of  the  Con- 
federacy for  private  gain,  fair  returns  of  useful  supplies  for  the  Gov- 
ernment and  people.  The  period  is  yet  too  brief  to  allow  full  real- 
ization of  the  benefits  to  be  expected  from  this  policy,  but  enough  is 
shown  to  vindicate  its  wisdom,  and  call  for  its  maintenance.  It  would 
be  at  once  a  great  triumph  over  our  enemies,  and  not  an  unprofitable 
lesson  to  neutral  nations,  that  the  malice  of  the  former  as  exhibited 
in  their  futile  efforts,  by  a  pretended  blockade,  to  cut  off  the  com- 
merce of  the  Confederacy,  and  the  stolid  indifference  of  the  latter  to 
their  violation  of  the  law  of  nations  and  recent  treaty  stipulations, 
should,  by  the  enhancement  of  prices  consequently  falling  on  con- 
sumers abroad,  and  especially  their  own  people,  prove  the  effective 
means  of  sustaining  our  credit  and  securing  adequate  supplies  to  the 


IB 

Confederacy.  This  is  perfectly  practicable  by  a  sufficient  increase  in 
the  number  of  vessels,  and  by  greater  attention  to  affording  facilities 
for  evading  the  blockade,  and  rendering  more  directly  the  aid  ar»d 
countenance  of  the  Government  to  the  provision  of  the  staples  at  the 
ports,  and  to  the  enlistment  of  private  enterprise  and  capital  in  the 
trade.  • 

The  universal  appreciation  of  the  value  of  these  great  staples  sug- 
gests the  inquiry  whether,  as  they  cannot  be  exported  at  an  approach 
to  their  production,  they  may  not  be  employed  within  the  Confede- 
racy to  maintain  our  internal,  as  abroad  they  will  our  external,  credit.. 
This  subject  belongs,  perhaps,  more  appropriately  to  another  depart- 
ment .of  the  administration,  from  whose  more  matured  thought,  and 
larger  experience,  more  reliable  counsels  may  be  obtained  ;  but*the 
great  interest  of  this  department  in  utilizing  all  means  of  supply  and 
securing  acceptable  securities  for  purchasing  may  excuse  the  sugges- 
tion. It  is  believed  a  plan  might  be  devised  by  which  the  quantities 
of  these  great  staples,  which  could  .be  readily  obtained  for  the  Gov- 
ernment, by  the  tithe  and  exaction  of  the  tax  on  them,  as  on  gold  in 
kind,  rather  than  value,  might  be  so  disposed  of  as  to  provide  a  tempting 
mode  of  investment  to  capitalists,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  and  thus 
assure  large  available  means  for  meeting  the  disbursements  of  the 
war,  without  the  further  issue  of  a  redundent  currency. 

Of  all  the  difficulties  encountered  by  the  administrative  bureaus, 
perhaps  the  greatest  has  been  the  deficiency  in  transportation.  *With 
the  coasting  trade  cut  off,  and  the  command  by  the  e"nemy,  through 
their  naval  superiority,  of  all  our  great  rivers,  reliance  for  internal 
trade  and  communication  has  been  necessarily  on  the  railroads. 
'Jhese  were  never  designed,  nor  provided  with  means,  for  the  task 
now  incumbent  on  them.  They  have,  besides,  suffered  much  from 
inability  to  command  the  supplies  of  iron,  implements  and  machinery, 
they  habiti  ally  imported,  and  from  many  sacrifices  and  losses  in  the 
war.  The  -ieficiency  of  skilled  labor  has  also  been  a  great  embar- 
rassment, even  in  requisite  repairs.  It  is  impossible  they  can  be 
maintained  in  efficiency,  or  that  even  the  leading  lines  can  be  kept 
up,  without  the  direct  aid  and  interposition  of  the  Government.  Some 
of  the  shorter  and  least  important  roads  must*  be  sacrificed,  and  the 
iron  and  machinery  taken  for  the  maintenance  of  the  lending  lines, 
and  for  the  construction  of  son  e  essential  and  less  exposed  interior 
links  of  connection.  They  will  atae  have  to  be  supplied  with  sterling 
funds,  or  means  of  exporting  .our  staples  to  command  them,  and  facil- 
ities of  purchasing  and  importing  necessary  supplies  of  machinery 
and  the  like.  Th«  Government  will  have  to  assist,  by  the  construction 
of  cars  and  locomotives,  and  to  give  facilities  for  procuring  labor, 
and  especially  skilled  labor,  oftentimes  even  by  details  from  the  army, 
in  which,  during  the  first  stagnation  of  business  attendant  on  the  war, 
a  very  large  proportion  of  the  machinists  and  mechanics  entered.  It  is 
recommended,  that  by  appropriate  legislation,  aids,  in  these  various 
modes,  he  authorized.  In  return  for  such  privileges,  full  command 
over  all  the  resources  and  means  of  transport  possessed  by  the  roads, 
whenever  needed  for  the  requirements  of  the  Government,  should  be 


19 

established.  It  may  be,  indeed  is,  beliered  now  to  be  absolutely 
essential  for  the  support  of  leading  armies,  that  on  certain  lines 
all  the  means  of  transport  that  can  be  commanded  should  be  ex- 
acted. The  roads  should  be  run  under  unity  of  management,  without 
reference  to  their  loeal  limits  or  separate  schedules,  and  with  the 
rolling  stock  possessed  by  all,  or  which  can  be#  drawn  from  other 
sources.  There  should  be  the  full  power  of  commanding  all  this,  and 
at  the  same  time  of  requiring  the  continued  service,  as  far  as  needed,, 
of  all  officers  and  employees  of  the  road  ;  so  that  there  should  not  be 
even  temporary,  which  might  be  fatal,  delay  or  embarrassment  in  con- 
ducting the  transportation.  There  should  be  also  the  power  of  at 
once  taking  possession  of  and  removing  the  iron  on  roads  which  must 
be  sacrificed  to  maintain  or  construct  others  more  essential,  leaving 
the  just  compensation  and  all  other  questions  of  possible  litigation  to 
be  settled  by  subsequent  equitable  ^and  satisfactory  processes  of  in- 
vestigation and  decision.  The  delays  incident  to  previous  settlement, 
often  by  vexed  litigation,  are  fatal  to  the  imperative  uses  which  de- 
mand the  sacrifice,  and  if  permitted,  local  and  private  interests  will 
almost  invariably  invite  them.  No  reflection  is  intended  on  the  zeal 
or  patriotism  of  the  officers  or  members  of  these  railroad  companies. 
On  the  contrary*,  it  is  gratefully  acknowledged  that  they  have  gen- 
erally manifested  a  most  commendable  disposition  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  Government,  and  to  make  even  large  sacrifices  for  the 
common  cause.  Still,  the  measure  of  sacrifice,  which  the  need  de- 
mands, is  dimmed  to  their  perception  by  special  interests,  and  is  not 
unfrequently  too  great  to  be  acquiesced  in  without  the  exhaustion  of 
all  means  of  procrastination  and  prevention.  Th?  boards  of%directors, 
too,  where  they  would  individually  make  the  required  sacrifice,  fjeel 
constrained,  by  conscientious  regard  for  their  representative  trust,  to 
interpose  all.  the  obstruction  and  delays  in  their  power.  As  the 
immediate  possession  and  use  of  the  iron  in  such  cases  is  a  pressing 
necessity,. no  alternative  appears  to  exist  but  to  give  the  power  of 
seizure  in  the  first  instance,  with  the  fullest  precaution  for  after 
liberal  settlement;  and  it  is  earnestly  recommended  this  be 
done 

The  distance  and  difficulties  of  communication  cause  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  transactions  in  the  trans- Mississippi  department  since 
my  last  report,  yet  operations  there  are  in  the  main  believed  to  have 
been  scarcely  less  encouraging  and  successful  than  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  river.  .  It  is  true,  that  under  the  pressure  of  superior 
numbers,  from  strategic  considerations  mainly,  our  forces  retired  from 
Little  Rock,  and  have  allowed  the  enemy  to  advance  to  considerable 
distances,  in  the  interior  of  Arkansas;  but  in  such  movements  they 
expose  themselves  to  imminent  hazards,  and  will  probably  have  only 
been  lured  to  more  complete  destruction.  Similar  tactics,  in  the  war 
of  our  revolution,  achieved  the  decisive  triumphs  of  Saratoga  and 
Yorktown ;  and  the  remembrance 'of  these  glorious  results  should 
enable  the  people  overrun,  to  endure  the  many  sacrifices  such  policy 
of  withdrawal  must  entail. 

In  Texas  and  Louisiana,  the  invasions  of  the  past  winter  have  either 


20 

accomplished  ridiculously  small  results,  in  comparison  with  the  for- 
midable commands  employed,  or  have  been  successfully  repelled.  In 
western  Louisiana  especially,  the  various  advances  of  the  enemy  into 
the  interior  have  met  from  our  forces,  under  the  skillful  leadership  of 
General  Taylor,  repeated  and  signal  discomfitures.  Of  the  most  for- 
midable of  their  invasions,  attempted  apparently  for  the  subjugatiou 
of  the  whole,  country  I .-..■  several  converging  column?  of  their  land 
forces,  aided  by  a  formidable  fleet  of  gun-boats  on  the  river,  we  are 
as  yet  imperfectly  acquainted  with  results,  as  the  wise  policy  of  our 
able  commandt-r  has  withdrawn  the  scene  of  conflict  to  the  far  inte- 
rior. We  have  only  meagre  and  glozing  accounts  through  the  jour- 
nals of  the  enemy,  yet  they  suffice  to  show  reiterated  disasters  sus- 
tained, and  aiford  grounds  for  sanguine  hope  to  us  that  they  have 
met  the  retribution  of  fearful  losses  and  may  have  been  entirely  cap- 
tured or  destroyed.  Another  San  Jacinto  may  signalize  the  annals  of 
the  southwest,  and  illustrate  the  fearful  risk  to  an  invading  army  of 
pressing,  with  the  purpose  of  subjugation,  to  the  interior  defences  of 
a  free  and  gallant  people. 

The  abundant  productions  of  this  fertile  region  have  fortunately 
precluded  all  deficiencies  of  supplies  for  subsistence  to  either  the 
armies  or  the  people.  In  this  respect  they  are  fully  provided.  Then- 
needs  are  rather  of  munitions  arid  manufactured  stores.  Even,  before 
the  interruption  of  communications  with  the  east,  efficient  means  had 
been  adopted  for  the  establishment  of  founderies,  arsenals  and  manu- 
facturing establishments  of  various  kinds,  and  for  the  development  of 
the  mineral  and  other  internal  resources  of  the  country.  These 
efforts  have  been  since  pressed  with  increased  vigor  and  with  most 
creditable  success.  No  long  time  will  elapse  before,  in  all  material 
respects,  the  trans-Mississippi  department  will  be  made  self-sustaining 
for  war.  Meantime,  most  liberal  contracts  and  all  other  practicable 
measures  have  been  adopted  to  afford  them  requisite  supplies  by  impor- 
tation of  arms,  munitions  and  quartermaster's  stores.  These  have 
been,  at  least,  partially  successful,  and  have  met  the  most  pressing, 
wants.  The  deficiency  most  to  be  deplored  is  of  a  full  supply  of  arms, 
and  this  has  resulted  from  no  want  of  foresight  or  exertion  on  the. 
part  of  the  Government,  but  from  casual  miscarriages  and  unexpected 
and  most  unjustifiable  seizures  of  large  cargoes  by  neutral  powers. 
The  subsequent  rendition  of  them,  with  acknowledgment  of  error,  at 
distant  points,  by  no  means  remedied  the  mischiefs  the  injustice  had 
inflicted.  Notwithstanding  the  frustration  in  this  way  of  well  con- 
certed arrangements  for  supplies  of  arms  and  munitions,  others  have 
been  rewarded  with  success,  and  measures,  now  in  train  of  execution, 
it  is  confidently  hoped,  will  soon  remove  existing  deficiencies.  It  is 
not  improbable  this  has  been  already  more  speedily  and  effectively 
accomplished  by  the  triumph  of  our  arms  and  the  capture  of  the 
abundant  stores  of  the  enemy.  It  is  certainly  mortifying  to  think 
that  brave  men  are  kept  from  the  field,  when  their  all  is  staked,  by  the 
want  of  arms,  yet  if  they  can  be  supplied  by  the  spoils  of  victory, 
they  will  find,  in  their  equipment,  at  once  encouragement  and  an  inspi- 
ration of  generous  emulation  to  gallant  achievements.  .They  will 
• 


11 

» 
know,   too,  the  value  of  their  arms,  and  how   they   should  be  both 
guarded  and  used. 

The  legislation  of  the  late  Congress  for  the  trans-Mississippi  de 
partment  .was  both  liberal  and  provident.  Provision  was  made  for  the 
peculiar  needs  incident  to  its  comparative  isolation  from  the  super- 
vision of  the  central  Government  and  all  the  agencies  of  a  partially 
independent  Government  were  authorized.  In  the  same  spirit  has 
been  the  action  of  the  Executive.  Added  rank  and  dignity  have  been 
bestowed  on  the  able" commander  and  administrator  at  its  head,  and  to 
him  have  been  entrusted  the  full  measure  of  executive  powers,  which, 
under  our  constitutional  system,  could  be  exercised  by  other  than  the 
President,  Thus,  full  confidence  has  been  manifested  by  both  branches 
of  the  Government  in  his  fidelity,  capacity  and  judgment,  and  all  the 
incentives  to  effort,  and  all  the  means  of  accomplishment  which  could 
be  commanded,  have  been  imparted.  It  is  not  doubted  such  unusual 
trusts  are  merited  and  will  be  justified  in  their  exercise,  and  that  con- 
tinning  confidence  and  sanction  to  his  administration  of  affairs  will  be 
assured  by  its  happy  results.  Accounts  concur  in  representing  him 
as  enjoying  likewise  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  people  of  the 
department.  They,  notwithstanding  the  sacrifices  and  losses  to  which 
they  have  necessarily  been  subjected,  are  believed  to  be  resolute, 
hopeful  and  reliant  both  on  themselves  and  their  leader.-.  Portions 
of  their  country  may  be  overrun  or  temporarily  occupied  by  the  hosts 
of  their  unscrupulous  foes,  but  they  know  that  with  the  resources  in 
men  and  means  and  the  advantages  for  defence  of  their  extensive 
department,  employed  with  energy  and  skill,  the  attempt  to  subdue  a 
people  as  brave  and  determined  as  themselves,  is  one  of  folly  and 
madness.  They  endure  with  fortitude  their  temporary  ills,  await  with 
patience  the  hour  of  approaching  retribution,  and  anticipate,  with 
confidence,  the  overthrow  of  their  hateful  enemies  and  their  final  dis- 
graceful expulsion  or  destruction.  In  view  of  the  means  at  command, 
of  the  invincible  spirit  of  the  people,  the  skill  of  their  leaders,  and  the 
approved  prowess  .of  their  soldiers,  the  trans-Mississippi  department 
may  be  regarded  as  no  less  than  the  States  of  the  Confederacy  east, 
prepared,  against  the  utmost  efforts  of  their'  malignant  enemies,  for 
successful  defence,  and  assured  of  ultimate  triumph. 

Attention  is  invited  to  the  accompanying  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Indian  Affairs.  Credit  is  due  to  that  officer  for  the  dangers 
and  privation?  he  has  endured  in  twice  visiting  the  distant  abodes  of 
the  Indian  tribes.  His  presence  and  influence  among  them  have 
proved  salutary  in  affording  encouragement  and  maintaining  fidelity. 
It  is  important  they  should  be  dealt  with  in  a  «pirit  of  consideration 
*nd  liberality.  They  should  not  suffer  from  the  changes  which  have 
been  made  in  our  financial  system,  the  necessity  and  wisdom  of  which 
they  cannot  be 'expected  to  have  foreseen  or  now  to  understand.  The 
recommendation,  therefore,  by  the  Commissioner  of  timely  legisla- 
tion to  authorize  substitution  of  the  new  currency  for  the  old,  without 
loss  to  them,  is  approved  and  seconded.  The  great  body  of  the  In- 
dians, notwithstanding  their  losses,  are  attached  to  the  Confederacy 
and  confident  in  its  fortunes,  and,  with  reasonable   consideration   for 


22 

their  peculiar  wants  anrd   feelings,  may   easily   be    retained   in   amity 
and  fidelity. 

We  have  now  entered  on    the   fourth  year  of  the  war  ;  and  the  end 
is  not  yet.     Origin  og  and  perfidy  oj"  our  enemies,  it 

is  continued  through  their  rage  and  hate.     We  have   asked   and  s^k 

m       They  profess  to  enforce  a  de- 
iquest  and   extermination. 
Prost:  i-.ermg  their   liberties, 

they  are  It    ours.      A  :u  of    momentoifs 

events  is  :  itaTid   prepared   and 

resolute.      Nor  ha^  d  unworthy  exponents 

of   their  indoti  icing  patriotism.     The 

measures  of  ■  ''■  sred  as  a  combined  system,  are 

characterized  d    enlarged,  statesmanship.     They 

concentrate  the    em  •    d    resources   and    command  the  men.  and 

property  of  th<  cy  in  larger  measure  than  have   ever  been 

done    by   any    Grovi  '         *  i;i'     whole    male  population   capable 

of    arms,     from     seventeen  to   fiftj  either    marshaled    to     the 

field  or -organized  i  ,";    rr>  be  summoned.      One-third  of 

the  cu  ■•'  the  Confederacy  has  been    annulled,  and  taxation  of 

unprecedented  amount  hes  been  exacted  from  all  values.  One-tenth 
of  productions  in  kind  has  been  claimed  without  pay,  and,  besides, 
the  residue  and  ail  property  has  been  subjected  to  seizure  and  con- 
version for  public  use  at  moderate  rates  of  just  compensation.  The 
railroads,  the  great  means  of  internal  trade  and  communication,  are 
made  primarily  subservient  to  the  necessities  of  Government.  Even 
the  great  writ  of  personal-liberty  is  suspended  in  eases  requisite  to 
preclude  evasion  of  military. service,  or  to  repress  uprisings  of  disaf- 
fection or  disloyalty.  In  short,  by  their  representatives,  the  people, 
not  reluctantly',  but  eagerly  and  fearful  rather  of  shortcoming  than 
excess,  have,  through  regular  constitutional  action,  commanded  for 
their  country  and  the   labor,  properly   and   live-,  of  ail  •  In 

the  consciousness  of  such  devotion  and  sacrifice  to* a  righteous  cause, 
they  may  well  fee]  reliant  and  indomitable,  and  await  with. constancy 
and  faith  the  shock  of  com ihg  battle.    They    have,  1  ch    to   en- 

courage and  every  incentive  to  nerve  and  -animate  Our  enemies 
exhibit    unmistakable    indi<  of.  despondency,'  of    approaching 

bankruptcy  and  internal  convulsion       Tin  y  w  ring  the  year^ 

in  the  throes  of  intense  political  struggle,  distracted  beyond  all  pre- 
cedent by  the  jars  and  strifes  of  acritnonious  factions,  contending  for 
tke  prize  of  almosl  ic  power   and    madly   extravaj  pendi^ 

lure.     To  a  large   proportion  of  their   peo]  'hem  the 

wisest  and  the  best,  the  vi;  are'the   'authors  and  prose- 

cutors of  the  war  are  scarce  less  odious  .than   to   ou    •  d  with 

nearly  as  much  reason,  since  its  triumph  is  the  practical  subversion 
of  their  constitution  and  lafgs,  and  the  precursor  of  speedy  destruc- 
tion to  their,  as  surely  as  to  our,  liberties.  If  any  redemption  remains 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  from-  the  wickedness  ami  madness 
that  have  urged  them  to  this  war,  it  can  only  be  by  recurrence  to  the 


pjincipl  of  the    States   and    to  the 

CO  U: 

.     A'll  •  •    .  too,  ;ire   a,uap:4iou« 

*no-  *r-  .  -  ■       r    us   from  ever* 

quarter  cf  the  .   of  the  first  pages  if 

tn*s  re]  beard  from  the 

remote  of  the  .   swollen   by  the 

acclaim  from  Paduc!  alminated  in  the 

shouts  of  c  ^nts  of  a  young 

and  rising  .  ■  efTNortb  oil.     Many  minor 

'successes  contribute  to  justify  grateful  exultation^  but  all  should  fail 
to  excite  presumption,  and  only  anima.^  to  greater  effort  and  to  hum- 
bler trust  in  the  blessing  of  He:v  inns 

The  greatest  incentive  yet  remains.      Our  only  outlet    to  existence 
and  safety  is  through  the  portals  of  victory.      We  have  burned  the  shim 

'  behind  u-\      It  ibill  not  do  to  fail.     Subjected  to  the  "hate  and  brutality 
of  our  malignant  foes,  to  what  depths   of  penury,  misery  and   base-1 
ness  should  we  not  be  crushed  ?     Our  Confederacy  would  be  extinct  ; 
our  States  broken   up;  our  institutions,  social  and   industrial,   up- 
rooted, and  our  people   stripped  of  property,   liberty   and  all  rights, 
now  and  in   coming  generations,  the    thralls   of  Yankees    and    their 
aliied  hordes  of  miscreant  foreigners,  held   to   the   tasks  of  drud^erv 
and  infamy  by  the  insolent  ministry  of  our  slaves  in  arms.      No  con- 
quered people  would  have  ever  under  such  mi  -  ■    -.  inr  have 
been. steeped  in  such  bitterness  and  infamy.      For   this   end,  shall  we 
nave  made  such   priceless  sacrifices  of  blood   and   tie  irid  d6ne 
and  dared  as  our  army  and  people  have  in  this  war  ?     Shall  the  hosts 
of  pur  gallant  dead-                hie  army  of  martyrs'* — in    vain   have  at- 
tested  with   their  lives   tfoe  Sacredness   and   truth    of  their  country's 
cause  I     Are  they  to  live  in  memory  nor                :  o>  amid    the  halo  of 
fame  for    the    inspiration    and   reverence  of  future  generations,  but 
branded   for   warning   and   execration,  with   the   lasting .  stigma  of  a 
rebel's  name  and   a   traitor's- fate  ?     Are    the    thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  the   invalided,  the   scarred  and   maimed   heroes  of   this 
war,  instead  of  being  followed  tl                       ith  the  homage  of  honor 
and  gratitude,  to  drag  out  a  wretched  existence,  the  conspicuous  ob- 
jects of  detestation,  obloquy  and  contempt?     Shall  we  and  ours,  from 
the  honored  sire  and  beloved  mother  to   the   maiden   in  her  purity,  or 
the  prattling  innocent,  with  all  our  homes  and  means,  be   the  victims 
or  prey   of   Yankee  insolence,  cupidity   and   hate  ?.     We    cannot,  in 
sober  verity,-aff<Jrd  to  be  conquered.     Such   existence   offers  no  boon 
to   tempt   nor^  consolation  to   reconcile.     In   contrast,  on  the  other 
hand,  through'the"  vista  of  mo   distant  time,   see  the   Confederacy  of 
our  choice  established  in   power   and  dignity;  pur  States  in  the* be- 
nignant   exercise  of   acknowledged    sovereignty;    the- courage    and 
virtues  of  our  people  tested   and   approved ;  our   institutions,  social 
and  industrial,  vindicated  and  freed  from  the  malignant  intermeddling 
of  fanatic  or  insidious  enemies,  confirmed  on  the  basis  that  so  happily 
reconciles  capital  with  labor,  and  harmonizes  dependence  with  protec- 
tion, and. the  desolated  homes  and  ravaged  fields  of  our  favored  land 


restore'!  and  flourishing  under  the  benignant  -smiles  of  p»a:e  and 
plenty.  Let  our  people  *'  look  on  this  picture,  and  then  on  that.* 
and  choose.  For  it  is  a  mutter  only  of  choice  and  the.  will  to  fulfill 
it.  We  hate  the  numbers,  the  resources  and  the  means  adequate  to 
our  certain  redemption  and  triumph,  if  only  they  he-  commanded, 
concentrated  and  wielded  with  energy  and  unity  by  the  will  of  a 
people  unalterably  fixed  never  to  succumb, but  to  prefer  release  in  the 
"•rave  and  refuge  with  '  I  to  the  horrors  and  infamy  of  lasting 
slavery.  We  have  only  to  act  in  this  spirit,  and  humbly  confiding 
in  the  favor  of  Heaven,  we  may  be  assured  no  distant  day  will  wit- 
ness the  confusion  and  discomfit;. re  of  our  enemies  and  the  permanent 
attainment  to  us  and  our  posterity,  through  the  achievements  of  vic- 
tory, of  peace,  freedom,  and  independence. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

JAMTS  A.  SJl&DOK, 

Secretary  of  War. 


REPORT  FROM  CONSCRIPTION-  BUREAU. 


Bureau  op  Conscription*  Richmond,  April  30,  1864. 

Hon.  James  A.   Skdocn, 

Secretary  of  War  :    \ 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  my  report  concerning  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Conscription  service,  from  the  1st  of  January  to  the  1st 
of  April,  18G4.  This  report  indicates  but  a  very  meagre  portion  of 
the  work  which  has  been  performed.  The  results  are  the  scanty 
gleanings  from  an  almost  unlimited  and  nearly  exhausted  field  of 
labor,  every  inch  of  which  has  to  be  searched,  analyzed,  and  classified 
in  every  relation  to  the  great  problem  of  recruiting  and  maintaining 
the  armies. 

No  attribute  which  pertains  to  society  or  civil  economy  but  has 
been  subjected  to  the  scrutiny  and  action  of  this  bureau  and  its 
agencies.  With  the  incompetent  means  under  its  control,  all  has  been 
done  which  could  be  effected  by  zeal  and  diligence.  The  results  indi- 
cate this  grave  consideration  for  the  Government — chat  fresh  material 
for  the  armies  can  no  longer  be  estimated  as  an  element  of  future 
calculation  for  their  increase  ;  and  that  necessity  demands  Hie  inven- 
tion of  devices  for  keeping  in  the  ranks  the  men  now  borne  on  the 
rolls.  The  stern  revocation  of  all  details ;  an  appeal  to  the  pat- 
riotism of  the  States  claiming  large  numbers  of  able-bodied  men,  and 
the  accretions  by  age,  are  now  almost  the  only  unexhausted  sources 
of  supply.  For  conscription  from  the  general  population,  the  func- 
tions of  this  bureau  may  cease  with  the  termination  of  the  year 
1861. 

Papers  A,  B,  C,  D,  are  the  reports  of  the  officers  of  this  bureau 
relative  to  matters  with  which  they  are  respectively  charged,  and  ex- 
hibiting statements  and  views  which  I  deem  worthy  of  your  conside- 
ration. 

Papers  E,  F,  G,  II,  I,  J,  K,  L,  M,  and  N,  hereto  attached,  exhibit 
the  various  operations  of  the  Conscription  service,  in  the  diverse 
functions  allotted  to  it.  From  these,  however,  are  excluded  an  im- 
mense mass  of  work  which  it  is  not  deemed  necessary  to  report ; 
because  it  is  of  a  character  not  demanding  record  in  this  bureau,. 

The  returns  furnished  are  unavoidably  incomplete,  and  I  respect- 
fully refer  to  the  latter  portion  of  this  report  for  the  explanation. 

Papers  0  and  P  exhibit  very  valuable  reports  from  Colonel  Blake, 
the  Registrar  of  this  Bureau,  in  regard  to  the  military  capabilities  of 
Georgia  and  Virginia.     Within  a  few  days  I  expect  to  receive  from 


the  same  intelligent  and  zealous  officer  similar  reports  on  North  Caro- 
lina, South. Carolina,  and  Alabama. 

Paper  Q  is  a  list  of  the  enrolling  officers  whose  commissions  have 
been  vacated.  .  The  case  is  fully  stated  below. 

These  various  exhibits  show  that  much  good  work  has  been  done, 
although  the  numbers  recorded  in  this  bureau  do  not  manifest  a  large 
increase  to. the  array.  A  rigid  and  universal  inspection,  not  only  of 
company  rolls,  but  personal,  and  also  pay-rolls,  will  prove  that  more 
'men  have  been  received  into  the  service — irregularly — since  the  1st 
of  January,  than  have  gone  through  the  Conscription  authorities. 


27 


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SUM$ 

From  the  reports  qow  in  this  bureau,  it  appears  that  tor  the  months 
of  December,  January,  February  a 

7,513  conscripts  were  assigned  to  tJhq  army, 
2,325  volunteers  were  assigned  to  the  army, 
8,306   deserters  were  returned  to  the  army, 


IS,  144  increase  to  the  army. 

The  reports  of  the  number  of  persoiiB  exempted  by  law  and  orders 
of  the*\Var  Department  are  not  complete.  The  number  so  reported 
in  North  Carolina  has  not  been  fully  reported  ;  and  the  commandant 
has  been  directed  to  furnish  this  information. 

In  .Alabama  and  Mississippi,  the  number  exempt  by  law  and  orders, 
up  to -1st  January,  is  given,  but  not  the  number  exempt  by  boards  of 
examination. 

The  total  number  of  persons  detailed-in  Alabama  and  Mississippi 
is  not  known,  as  the  reports  of  the  number  detailed  is  up  to  the  1st 
January,  1864. 

Taking  the  number  detailed  in  those  States,  at  that  time,  there 
are  13,142  conscripts  detailed.         # 

Upon  the  same  reports,  exclusive  of  NorttuCarolina,  there  arc 

20,435  conscripts  exempted  by  law  and  Orders, 
5,847  conscripts  exempted  by  boards  of  examination. 

The  commandants  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi  have  been  written 
to,  to  furnish  a  complete  report  of  the  operations  o^  conscription  in 
those  States ;  and  as  soon  as  their  reports  are  received,  they,  will  be 
forwarded.  It  is  a  matter  of  much  difficulty  to  obtain  accurate  re- 
ports from  these  States,  owing  to  the  confusion  of  the  service,  and  to 
the  very  meagre  reports  (in  •some  instances  none)  from  no  records 
having  been  kept.  All  these  derails  and  exemptions  are  now  re- 
voked, and  new  ones  will  have  to  be  issued  under  the  late  act  of  Con- 
gress, which  went  into  operation  on  the  1st  of  April,  1864. 

The  results  of  conscription,  since  the  1st  of  January,  have  not 
been  equal  to  the  anticipations  of  the  country,  and  perhaps  not  quite 
up  to.  the  calculations  of  this  bureau. 

I.  The  act  of  Congress*entitlcd  "  An  act  to  put  an  end  to  the  ex- 
emption from  military  service  of  those  who  have  heretofore  furnished 
substitutes,"  (approved  January  5,  1864,)  has  not  furnished  the  num- 
ber of  men  which  it  was  supposed  would  bts  brought  into  the  service 
by  that  law.  It  has  been  Found  that  a  number  of  persons  hav- 
ing substitutes,  come  within  the  classes  exempted  <  by  the  act 
of  February  17,  J  86 4;  and  other  large  numbers  belong  to  those 
classes  who  are  the  subjects  of  detail  for  the  industrial  productions. 


53 

Wealthy  farmers,  enterprising  manufacturers  and  mechanics,  were  the 
persons  chiefly  furnishing  substitutes.  Besides  these,  many  patriotic 
persons  of  feeble  health,  but  within  the  conditions  of  the  regulations, 
sent  in  substitutes,  and  on  being  enrolled,  have  been  detailed  for 
service  out  of  the  field.  The  bureau,  under  your  instruction,  has 
been  very  cautious  in  allowing  such  details.  I  regret  to  state  that 
there  seems  to  have  been  a  general  effort  to  keep  principals  of  substi- 
tutes out  of  the  army. 

It  is  proper  to  add  that  the  calculation  of  enrolling  officers,  is,  that 
a  larger  number  of  this  class  have  gone  into  the  army  without  report- 
ing to  the  enrolling  officers  than  have  been  passed  by  them  through 
the  camps.  The  result  of  the  law,  therefore,  has  been  better  than 
is  exhibited  by  the  records  of  this  bureau. 

II.  It  has  been  found  exceedingly  difficult  to  interpret  the  "act  to 
organize  forces  to  serve  during  the  war,"  so  as  to  adapt  its  provis- 
ions to  just  administration  under  the  agencies  provided  for  conscrip- 
tion. The  purpose  of  the  law  seems  to  be,  that  while  all  men  are 
made  liable  to  military  service,  the  productive  industry  must  be  main- 
tained as  necessary  to  the  public  defence.  Under  the  classes  of  ex- 
emptions, there  are  but  a  limited  number  engaged  in  production.  Of 
persons  "  owning  fifteen  able-bodied  hands,"  a  very  small  minority 
produce  more  than  they  consume — rarely  having  a  surplus  of  grain 
or  meat  to  sell — and  a  large  majority  of  such  persons  between  the 
ages  of  seventeen  and  fifty,  are  already  in  the  service.  The  surplus 
producers — those  on  whom  the  country  and  the  army  must  depend 
for  supplies — are  the  classes  having  much  less  than  "  fifteen  hands.' ' 
and  down  to  single  laborers  on  farms.  As  numerous  an  this  class  is, 
it  has  already  been  drained  of  men  to  a  point  which  requires  great 
caution  in  making  further  abstractions.  Sly  opinion  is,  that  the  ag- 
riculture of  the  country  cannot  safely  spare  more  than  a  very  small 
additional  draft.  I  am  not  Bare  that  the  public  defence  would  not  be 
strengthened  instead  of  weakened  by  adding  to  the  labor  thus  em- 
employed. 

III.  In  manufactures  and  mechanical  arts,  the  like  necessities  seem 
to  exist.  Perhaps  no  civilized  country  was  ever  so  barren  of  manu- 
factures and  mechanical,  arts  as  the  States  of  the  Confederacy  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war  ;  and  certainly  no  country,  since  the  blockade 
was  established,  has  needed  them  more.  >"'■  «>  one  article  of  clothing, 
or  mechanical  production  was  supplied  within  these  States;  so  that, 
under  the  blockade,  it  has  become  an  absolute  necessity,  even  for  the 
meagre  supply  now  existing,  that  every  manufacturer  and  mechanic 
should  be  kept  to  his  art.  As  the  stock  which  existed  at  the  begin- 
ning of  war  approaches  absolute  exhaustion,  this  necessity  of  course 
increases.  Prudence  requires  great  caution  in  further  diminishing 
this  class.  The  army  and  the  people  must  be  fed  and  clothed  ;  and 
the  munitions  of  war  must  be  furnished  ;  and  the  persons  engaged  in 
these  purposes  are  already  too  few  for  the  ends.  It  is  in  the  class  of 
non-producers  that  the  enrolling  officer  must  chiefly  look  for  his  re- 
cruits to  the  army  ;  and  it  is  in  determining  who  these  non-producers 
%re,  that  the  conscript  authorities  are  engaged  in'hourly  contest  with 

4 


34 

every  authority,  every  prejudice,  every  interest,  and  every  fear, 
which  exists  in  the  Confederacy.  Governors  and  judges  demand  some, 
local  convenience  others  ;  pecuniary  or  other  interests,  and  every  oc- 
cupation are  magnified  into  public  necessities.  Towns  and  cities  de- 
mand able-bodied  men  for  police ;  banks  and  brokers  for  clerks  ; 
charitable  institutions  for  wardens  ;  public  functionaries  for  subalterns  j 
and  all  on  the  plea  that  such  are  necessary  for  the  public  good.  There 
is  one  universal  effort  to  keep  men  from  the  field.  Since  I  took 
charge  of  this  bureau,  no  authority,  association,  or  individual  has  of- 
fered one  man  to  the  military  service.  Against  all  this,  the  conscription 
authorities  are  daily  contending.  The  results  evince  that  the  officers 
have  been  doing  their  duty. 

IV.  I  regret  that  I  am  compelled  to  report  that  in  no  department 
of  Government  has  the  law  been  rigidly  complied  with  in  the  matter 
of  details.  The  plea  of  public  necessity  has  been  so  strenuously 
urged,  and  so  distinctly  proved,  that  continuations  have  been  allowed 
beyond  the  contemplation  of  law.  I  respectfully  recommend  that,  as 
soon  as  the  reserves  are  organized,  the  law  be  rigidly  enforced. 

V.  The  functions  of  conscription  are  now  narrowed  down  to  a  sys- 
tem of  delicate  gleaning  from  the  population  of  the  country,  involving 
the  most  laborious,  patient,  cautious  and  intelligent  investigation  into 
the  relations  of  every  man  to  the  public  defence.  There  are  but  few 
left  whose  appropriate  duties  in  those  relations  have  not  been  defined, 
and  it  thence  becomes  the  province  of  the  conscription  agents  to- 
weigh  and  determine  whether  those  relations  may  not  be  disturbed 
for  the  purpose  of  sending  more  men  into  the  field,  and  distributing 
them  for  the  general  service. 

The  efficiency  of  the  bureau  in  these  investigations  has  been  seri- 
ously impaired  by  the  failure  to  retain  in  office  about  seventy  officers, 
selected  by  you  for  their^peculiar  fitness  for,  and  accurate  training  in, 
these  duties. 

These  officers  (paper  (i  Q")  were  selected  by  you  with  great  care 
and  accurate  discrimination,  and  appointed  or  assigned  to  enrolling 
service.  With  few  exceptions,  all  other  officers  in  that  service  were 
assigned  by  accident,  or  by  reason  of  unfitness  for  other  duties ;  and 
from  this  cause,  wThen  I  came  to  the  bureau,  I  found  the  service  con- 
fused and  languid,  and  the  administration  of  the  conscript  laws  neces- 
sarily unsatisfactory.  Chiefly  by  the  zealous  and  intelligent  aid  of 
these  seventy  officers,  thus  selected,  the  system  was  organized,  and 
the  administration  became  fruitful  not  only  in  men  for  the  field,  but 
in  managing  the  external  police  of  the  armies,  and  also  in  furnishing 
a  large  amount  of  information  on  which  to  base  the  military  policy 
of  the  country.  These  officers  were  the  chiefs  who  controlled,  in- 
formed, and  energized  the  ungenial  agencies  filtered  into  the  con- 
script from  the  debris  of  the  general  service.  They  were  the  practised 
and  trained  soldiers  and  judges  on  whom  I  relied  to  sustain  me  in 
my  hard  duty  of  wringing  from  the  wasted  population  the  scanty 
remnant  of  men,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  preserve,  as  far  as  our 
military  need  would  permit,  the  enfeebled  productive  energies  of  the 
country.     These  officers  have  been  discharged  by  the  operation  of  af 


law  which  'iocs  not  provide  adequate  compensation  to  the  public 
service. 

In  the  States  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina, 
these  officers  were  the  principal  agents  of  conscription,  and  in  these 
States  conscription  has  been  eminently  successful.  In  Georgia,  Ala- 
bama, Mississippi  and  Florida  the  officers  were  altogether  casual,  and 
from  these  States  come  all  the  complaints  of  the  evils  and  failures  of 
conscription. 

The  invalid- corps  bill  has  furnished  no  substitutes  for  these  officers, 
and  I  have  no  authority  to  ask  or  receive  officers  from  any  other 
source,  except  such  as  may  be  sent  by  the  casualties  of  the  field,  or 
on  declarations  of  incompetence.  I  cannot  too  strongly  express  my 
dismay  at  the  almost  certain  prospect  of  the  utter  failure  of  the  con- 
scription service,  during  the  coming  vital  campaign,  if  it  is  made 
dependent  on  the  accidental  officfrs  who  are  fitfully  and  irregularly 
assigned  to  its  duties.  On  the  1st  day  of  April  no  branch  of  the 
public  service  was  working  with  more  order  and  efficiency  than  that 
under  the  control  of  this  bureau.  All  obstacles  and  impediments — 
and  they  were  of  the  gravest  character — wrere  yielding  <o  the  intelli- 
gence, the  indomitable  zeal  and  devotion  of  the  officers.  On  the  1st 
day  of  May,  over  a  large  portion  of  the  Confederacy,  the  service 
will  be  paralysed.  Leaving  out  the  plea  of  harsh  and  cruel  dealing 
with  these  officers — a  large  majority  of  whom  are  disabled  by  wounds 
and  disease,  and  have  resigned  higher  to  take  inferior  commissions — 
I  regard  the  statement  I  have  made  as  sufficient  warrant  for  me  to 
suggest  a  recommendation  that  Congress  make  some  provision  for 
reinstating  these  officers  in  the  enrolling  service,  with  their  proper 
commissions. 

VI.  Another  grave  interruption  has  come  of  the  occasional,  but 
too  frequent,  assignment  of  officers,  commanding  in  the  field,  to  the 
duty  of  conscription  and  recruiting  in  particular  localities.  In  every 
instance  this  has  unduly  disturbed  the  production  of  the  country,  has 
violated  legal  right,  has  failed  to  send  men  into  the  field,  and  has  been 
unjust  to  the  general  service.  In  no  instance  has  an  officer  com- 
manding in  the  field,  charged  with  local  conscription,  sent  a  conscript 
out  of  his  department.  The  assumption  by  local  authorities  to  de- 
termine liability  to  service  has  uniformly  been  detrimental,  keeping 
unnecessarily  many  from  the  field,  and  impeding  and  delaying  the 
conscript  officers  in  sending  others. 

VII.  In  my  report  of  December  5th,  1863.  I  estimated  that  nearly 
one-third  more  men  went  into  the  field,  directly,  under  the  compulsion 
of  the  law,  than  passed  through  the  camps  of  instruction.  My  belief 
is,  that  the  proportion  has  been  increased  since  the  passage  of  the 
acts  of  5th  January  and  17th  February;  that  is,  that  the  conscript 
rolls  and  assignments  will  not  exhibit  one-half  the  number  of  men 
who  have  gone  into  the  service,  since  the  5th  of  January.  Proper 
returns  to  the  Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  office  should  make  an 
accurate  exhibit  of  these  accretions.  General  orders  have  been  inop- 
erative to  prevent  this  mode  of  direct  volunteering,  and  requisitions 
for  the  men  by  enrolling  officers  and  this  bureau  have  been  unheeded, 


36 

The  abuse  exists  in  every  military  department.  Your  attention  is 
respectfully  and  earnestly  invited  to  this  matter;  and  a  rigid  inspec- 
tion of  company  rolls  is  recommended. 

VII. I .  The  applications  for  details  in  the  various  departments  of  the 
Government,  and  in  other  pursuits,  have  increased,  and  are  daily 
increasing.  The  allegation  of  public  necessity  is  generally  set  forth  ; 
and  it  is  very  difficult  for  this  bureau  to  determine  I  h-tive  endeavored 
to  limit  such  details  as  rigidly  as  possible  ;  but  have  not  succeeded  to  the 
extent  which,  it  appears  to  me,  the  public  service  demands.  My%opink>n 
is,  that  all  proper  labor,  except  of  mechanical  experts  and  agrieulU- 
ralists,  can,  by  due  effort,  be  furnished  from  the  exempt  classes,  the 
reserves,  the  light  duty  conscripts,  and  the  invalid  corps :  and  that 
there  is  no  absolute  necessity,  at  this  time,  for  one  detail  in  ten  of  the 
able-bodied  men  between  eighteen  and  forty  five.  I  believe  stern 
adherence  to  a  rule  embracing  this  conclusion  won  Id  not  diminish  the 
vigor  of  the  productive  industry  to  any  appreciable  extent. 

The  exceptions  are  very  rare  which  involve  a  permanent  necessity 
of  departing  from  the  provisions  of  sections  eight  and  nine  of  the  act 
of  February  17th,  1864.  At  present  there  is  not  one  department  of 
the  Government,  or  one  enterprise  in  the  country,  which  is  not  clamor- 
ing for  such  departure.  The  various  bureaus  of  Government  ask  over 
twelve  thousand  able-bodied  men.  The  railroads  ask  at  least  one 
brigade  beyond  the  allowance  of  exempts.  The  express  companies 
demand  nearly  a  regiment ;  and  State  authorities  fully  ten  thousand. 
Wherever  a  contract  is  made  with  the  Government,  in  which  a  large 
profit  is  provided,  the  Government  is  immediately  called  upon  to  do 
the  work  for  which  it  pays.  Thus,  a  railroad,  an  express,  telegraph, 
or  manufacturing  company,  contracts  with  the  Government,  and  lays 
its  profits ;  it  then  asks  the  Government  to  detail  from  the  army,  or 
abstain  from  the  military  use  of,  all  the  labor  necessary  to  fulfill  the 
contract.  The  evil  is  an  enormous  one.  The  authority  of  this  bureau 
is  not  competent  to  the  remedy. 

IX.  In  many  localities,  it  has  been  found  expedient,  indeed,  neces- 
sary, to  suspend  wholly,  or  partially,  the  operations  of  conscription. 
This  has  been  done  in  localities  between  the  lines  of  our  armies,  and 
those  of  the  enemy — so  far  as  the  reserve  classes  are  concerned — for 
the  obvious  reason  of  preventing  those  classes  from  becoming  pris- 
oners of  war.  And  it  has  been  extended  to  all  classes,  within  the 
enemy's  lines,  from  the  impossibility  of  the  enrolling  officers  opera- 
ting. In  the  first  congressional  district  of  North  Carolina,  the  whole 
matter  has  been  turned  over  to  the  Governor  of  that  State ;  the  men 
to  be  used  for  State  defence. 

X.  Frequent  complaints  are  made  of  the  inefficiency  and  corrup- 
tion of  the  enrolling  officers.  Such  complaints  are  made  against  the 
generals  in  the  field,  and  all  the  departments  of  the  Government.  In 
the  case  of  enrolling  officers  they  are  sometimes  well  founded,  and 
active  efforts  are  made  to  remedy  the  evils.  In  general,  however, 
these  complaints  are  the  results  of  ignorance,  or  the  baffled,  endeavor 
to  escape  the  service,  or  of  malice,  because  the  duty  of  the  officers 
of  conscription  requires  them  to  exempt  certain  persons  for  suffi- 


cient  legal  reasons.  I  can  congratulate  you  on  the  assurance 
that  the  c.iief  officers  in  the  enrolling  service  discharge  their  duties 
wit  i  as  much  zeal,  intelligence  and  efficiency  as  any  officers  in  the 
Government.  There  may  he  defects  in  the  administration  of  the  con- 
script laws,  and  dereliction  among  the  officers;  but  I  have  no  hesita- 
tion in  asserting,  that  the  country  and  the  Government  has  just  reason 
to  be  satisfied,  both  with  the  system  and  the  officers.  As  to  the  officers 
of  this  bureau,  immediately  under  my  eye.  I  have,  without  undue 
assumption,  great  pride  in  testifying  to  their  zeal,  their  apt  intelli- 
gence, their  untiring  industry,  and  absorbing  devotion  in  the  public 
service. 

In  view  of  the  important  and  delicate  service  you  have  confided  to 
my  administration,  1  cannot  refrain  from  the  expression  of  my  grate- 
ful acknowledgement  to  you,  and  to  the  eminent  public  servant  who 
acts  as  your  assistant,  for  the  patient  and  courteous  consideration  you 
have  given  to  all  my  applications;  and  for  the  enlightened,  judicious, 
and  prompt  instructions  by  which  you  have  authorized  and  enabled 
rue  to  execute  your  order.-.  Of  the  nature,  the  extent,  the  intricacy, 
and  the  delicacy  of  the  duties  to  be  performed  by  the  conscription 
authorities  you  have,  and  what  is  extremely  rare  in  the  country,  a  full 
and  clear  comprehension  ;  and  in  their  performance  you  have  gener- 
ously permitted  me  to  avail  myself  habitually  of  your  direct  and 
minute  counsel. 

JOHN  S.  PRESTON, 
Colonel  and  Superintendent. 


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